Munar

MEMORANDUM **

Boac Belarmino Munar, his wife, and four children (collectively, “petitioners”) petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) order affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying petitioners’ application for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) protection. We grant the petition as to the asylum claim and withholding of removal; we deny the petition as to the CAT claim.

Substantial evidence supports the BIA’s conclusion that petitioners did not meet their burden to show past persecution on the basis of Munar’s political opinion. Prosecution for participation in a coup attempt in a country that provides for peaceful democratic change is not persecution based on political opinion. Chanco v. INS, 82 F.3d 298, 302 (9th Cir.1996).

The evidence presented, however, does compel the conclusion that petitioners have established a well-founded fear of future persecution. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). The immigration judge found that Munar and his wife were credible. Munar has been in the United States continuously since 1988. Mrs. Munar testified that the…