Simonyan

*806 MEMORANDUM **

Bagrat Simonyan petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) which adopted and affirmed, without opinion, an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying asylum on a discretionary basis and granting withholding of removal pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, and declining to address the request for protection under the Convention Against Torture. For the reasons stated below, we will grant the petition, vacate the order of the BIA, and remand for further proceedings.

I.

From 1977 until the spring of 2000, petitioner, a medical doctor, provided health care to prisoners in his native country of Armenia. While working in a managerial position at a hospital in Yerevan, petitioner discovered that prisoners at the hospital were not being given adequate food or medical treatment.

Petitioner was ultimately jailed and severely beaten for joining and demonstrating with an organization formed to promote democracy and a better life for Armenians. Petitioner sustained broken ribs, a concussion, and other injuries. After his release from the hospital, petitioner learned that his daughter had been beaten to death during her…