FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
DEC 22 2017
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ISSAM YAACOUB, No. 11-72261
Petitioner, Agency No. A098-916-140
v.
MEMORANDUM*
JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted December 6, 2017**
Pasadena, California
Before: WARDLAW and GOULD, Circuit Judges, and COLLINS,*** Chief
District Judge.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable Raner C. Collins, Chief United States District Judge
for the District of Arizona, sitting by designation.
Issam Yaacoub, a native and citizen of Lebanon, petitions for review of the
Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming the Immigration
Judge’s (“IJ”) adverse credibility finding, denial of his application for asylum and
withholding of removal, and denial of his request for relief under the Convention
Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We
review for substantial evidence the agency’s factual findings, applying the
standards governing adverse credibility determinations set forth in the REAL ID
Act. Shrestha v. Holder, 590 F.3d 1034, 1039–40 (9th Cir. 2010). We deny the
petition for review.
1. Substantial evidence supports the agency’s adverse credibility
determination based on Yaacoub’s inconsistent testimony, lack of documentary
evidence, and omissions of key incidents from his asylum application. See
Shrestha, 590 F.3d at 1048 (adverse credibility finding reasonable under totality of
the circumstances). For example, at one point Yaacoub testified his friend was
abducted ten days after the demonstration in May, 1998, but this conflicts with
other testimony that his friend was abducted three weeks to one month after the
demonstration. See Lata v. INS, 204 F.3d 1241, 1245 (9th Cir. 2000). Yaacoub
also omitted several key events from his declaration, including a physical fight
with members of Hezbolla and an instance where members of Hezbolla allegedly
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shot at him. See Alvarez-Santos v. I.N.S., 332 F.3d 1245, 1254 (9th Cir. 2003)
(upholding adverse credibility determination where asylum applicant omitted key
incident from his asylum application). In the absence of credible testimony,
Yaacoub failed to establish eligibility for asylum and he necessarily failed to meet
the more stringent standard for withholding of removal. See Farah v. Ashcroft,
348 F.3d 1153, 1156 (9th Cir. 2003).
2. Because Yaacoub’s claim under the CAT is based on the same
testimony and documentary evidence that the IJ and BIA found not credible, and
he points to no other evidence that the IJ should have considered in making its
determination under CAT, his CAT claim also fails. See id. at 1157.
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.
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