Singh

MEMORANDUM *

Petitioner Narinderjit Singh, a native and citizen of India, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying his application for asylum and withholding of removal. 1 The relevant issues raised by Singh’s appeal are issues of law, and we therefore review the BIA’s decision on these issues de novo. See Ochoa v. Gonzales, 406 F.3d 1166, 1169 (9th Cir.2005).

Singh alleges that he fled India in 1989 after he was arrested, interrogated, and severely beaten by Indian security forces, apparently as a result of his membership in a Sikh activist group and his decision to give food to suspected Sikh militants. After fleeing India, Singh passed through Austria and Switzerland, ultimately arriving in the United States in July 1991. Singh filed an application for asylum in 1995, after which he was placed in deportation proceedings. The IJ ultimately found Singh to be an incredible witness and denied relief on that ground. The BIA expressed doubts about the IJ’s credibility finding, but held that, in any event, changes in conditions in the Punjab sufficed to “overcome the presumption that [Singh] will more likely than not suffer persecution…