Abouayash

MEMORANDUM **

Rabih Nagib Abouayash, a native of Lebanon, petitions for review of the BIA’s denial of asylum, withholding of removal and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”).

Abouayash exhausted his claim of past persecution by sufficiently raising that issue both in his notice of appeal to the BIA and in his short brief filed during that appeal. See Abebe v. Gonzales, 432 F.3d 1037, 1040-41 (9th Cir.2005) (en banc).

The IJ erred in requiring that Abouayash demonstrate that he was a high-ranking member of the Druze militia. The IJ appears to have based this requirement on a country report from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Ottawa. But that report refers to high-ranking members of Hezbollah who “later became involved in anti-Hezbollah activities” and thus would be at risk from Hezbollah. Contrary to the IJ’s assumption, the report also states that individuals such as Abouayash who had never belonged to Hezbollah would be at risk from that organization if they collaborated with Israel on security and intelligence matters, regardless of whether they were leaders of an anti-Hezbollah group. Thus the Ottawa report corroborates Abouayash’s credible testimony. No…