FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION SEP 15 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
MOHAMMED IBRAHIM; YASMIN No. 07-73069
FAUZIA; ABIDUR RAHMAN,
Agency Nos. A095-634-509
Petitioners, A097-361-020
A097-361-021
v.
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, MEMORANDUM *
Respondent.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted September 2, 2011
Pasadena, California
Before: SCHROEDER and GOULD, Circuit Judges, and MCCUSKEY, Chief
District Judge.**
Mohammed Ibrahim, his wife Yasmin Fauzia, and their son Abidur Rahman
(collectively “Petitioners”), natives and citizens of Bangladesh, petition for review
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The Honorable Michael Patrick McCuskey, Chief United States
District Judge for the Central District of Illinois, sitting by designation.
of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals adopting and affirming an
Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of Petitioners’ applications for asylum,
withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture.
Petitioners asserted fear of future persecution on account of Yasmin’s conversion
to Christianity.
Yasmin was found not to be eligible for asylum because she filed years after
the passage of the one-year deadline. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.4(a)(2)(i)(A). She
contends that she has demonstrated “changed” or “extraordinary” circumstances
pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1208.4(a)(4)-(5), justifying the delay.
The IJ made an adverse credibility finding with respect to her assertion that
she converted to Christianity. Yasmin converted nearly ten years after arriving in
the United States and a few months after the initiation of her husband’s removal
proceedings. The IJ’s adverse credibility finding is supported by substantial
evidence. Not only was the timing of the alleged conversion suspicious, but
Yasmin could not state the correct name of the church she said that she attended.
Her stated reasons for converting to Christianity supported the IJ’s conclusion that
she converted only to stay in the United States and not because of her religious
belief.
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Substantial evidence also supports the IJ’s determination that Yasmin has
failed to establish a clear probability that she will be persecuted in Bangladesh.
Neither the country reports nor the alleged threatening letters support her claim.
The letters, which Yasmin claims show that a fatwa was issued against her in
retaliation for her conversion, were written before her alleged conversion and bore
no indication of having been mailed from Bangladesh.
The petition for review is DENIED.
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