Hovhannisyan

MEMORANDUM **

Violeta Hovhannisyan, a native of Iran and citizen of Armenia, and her daughter Meline Vardanyan, a native and citizen of Armenia, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (BIA) decisions (1) affirming the Immigration Judge’s (IJ) denial of their consolidated applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture, and (2) denying their subsequent motion to reopen immigration proceedings. Where, as here, it is unclear whether the BIA conducted de novo review of the IJ’s oral decision, we may look to the IJ’s decision “as a guide to what lay behind the BIA’s conclusion.” Ahmed v. Keisler, 504 F.3d 1183, 1191 (9th Cir.2007). “We review for substantial evidence the decision that an applicant has not established eligibility for asylum.” Id.

Assuming the credibility of both Hovhannisyan and Vardanyan, 1 we take as true the following instances of violence, torture, and harassment suffered by them as a result of their imputed nationality and religious beliefs: (1) in January of 1990, uniformed Fedayeen soldiers forcibly entered Petitioners’ home, attacked Petitioners, and caused Hovhannisyan to suffer a…