Mouhanna

MEMORANDUM **

Assaf Mouhanna, a native and citizen of Lebanon, petitions for review of a final order of the Bureau of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissing his appeal from the immigration judge’s (IJ) denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, voluntary departure, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).

*233 The BIA’s determination that an alien is not eligible for asylum must be upheld if “ ‘supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole.’ ” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 , 112 S.Ct. 812, 815 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). “It can be reversed only if the evidence presented ... was such that a reasonable factfinder would have to conclude that the requisite fear of persecution existed.” Id. When an alien seeks to overturn the BIA’s adverse determination, “he must show that the evidence he presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution.” Id. at 483-84 , 112 S.Ct. at 817 ; see also Ghaly v. INS, 58 F.3d 1425, 1429 (9th Cir.1995). Where an asylum claim is involved, an alien must show either past persecution or a well-founded…