Vaskanyan

MEMORANDUM **

Volodya Vaskanyan and his wife Lusya Danielyan, both natives and citizens of Armenia, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) dismissal of their appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying their applications for asylum and withholding of removal and for protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We uphold a determination regarding asylum eligibility if it is supported by substantial evidence, and may reverse only if petitioner shows that the evidence he presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution. See Prasad v. INS, 47 F.3d 336, 338 (9th Cir.1995). We deny the petition for review.

Vaskanyan testified that he was beaten one time by members of the government and Armenian church on account of his affiliation with the Jehovah’s Witness religion. The IJ and BIA found that this beating did not rise to the level of persecution. The record does not compel a contrary finding. See Prasad v. INS, 47 F.3d at 339 (stating that minor abuse during a brief detention does not compel a finding of past…