Al Nema v. Gonzales

United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT August 3, 2006
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
No. 04-61075
Summary Calendar
WALEED KHALED AL NEMA,
Petitioner,
versus
ALBERTO R. GONZALES, U. S. ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Respondent.
--------------------
Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
BIA No. A75 294 475
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Before SMITH, GARZA, and PRADO, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Waleed Khaled Al Nema, a native of Kuwait and citizen of
Iraq, petitions for review of the order of the Board of
Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissing his appeal of the
immigration judge’s (IJ) decision denying his application for
withholding of removal and for relief under the Convention
Against Torture (CAT).
We will uphold the finding that an alien is not eligible for
withholding of removal and relief under the CAT if that finding
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent
except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
R. 47.5.4.
No. 04-61075
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is supported by substantial evidence. Zhang v. Gonzales, 432
F.3d 339, 344 (5th Cir. 2005). When the BIA has adopted the IJ’s
decision, as here, we review the IJ’s decision. Williams-
Igwonobe v. Gonzales, 437 F.3d 453, 455 (5th Cir. 2006). The
“substantial evidence” standard requires that the agency decision
be based on the record evidence and that the decision be
substantially reasonable. Carbajal-Gonzalez v. INS, 78 F.3d 194,
197 (5th Cir. 1996). Under this standard, the IJ’s determination
will be affirmed unless the “evidence compels a contrary
conclusion.” Id.Al Nema has never lived in Iraq. His claim is based almost
entirely on his father’s having opposed the Ba’ath Party of
Saddam Hussein in the early 1960s. After being tortured by
Ba’ath loyalists in 1960, Al Nema’s family left Iraq for Kuwait,
where all but Al Nema and one of Al Nema’s three sisters (who
lives with her husband in Iraq) have since remained. At his
hearing before the IJ, Al Nema testified that his father was
beaten and tortured by Ba’ath officials in 1972 and 1985, when he
returned to Iraq to renew his passport. Al Nema himself
testified that, at the age of eight in 1979, he briefly visited
Iraq with his grandmother. He stated that he was intimidated,
interrogated, and slapped by border-checkpoint officials.
The IJ’s conclusion that this testimony did not establish a
clear probability of persecution, for purposes of Al Nema’s
application for withholding of removal, was supported by
No. 04-61075
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substantial evidence. Roy v. Ashcroft, 389 F.3d 132, 138-39 (5th
Cir. 2004); Zhang, 432 F.3d at 344. Similarly, the IJ’s
determination that Al Nema had not established that he was likely
to be tortured in Iraq, for purposes of his CAT claim, was
supported by substantial evidence. See Efe v. Ashcroft, 293 F.3d
899, 907 (5th Cir. 2002). Al Nema failed to show how the
decades-old incidents involving his father suggested he, Al Nema,
would be persecuted.
The petition for review is DENIED. Al Nema’s motion to
remand the case to the BIA is also DENIED.