## Facts

- Nasser Mustapha Karouni, a Lebanese national, entered the United States in 1987 on a multiple-entry visitor visa and later overstayed.
- In 1998, he applied for asylum; the government initiated removal proceedings.
- Karouni is a gay man living with AIDS and testified that he feared harm or death in Lebanon because of his sexual orientation (and also referenced Shi’ite religion and HIV status).
- He grew up in an area influenced by Hezbollah, and record evidence indicated severe hostility toward homosexuals, including criminalization by the Lebanese government and reports that Hezbollah applied rules under which homosexuality could be punished by death.
- Karouni testified that in 1984 militia-uniformed men broke into his apartment, questioned him about homosexuality, and attempted to arrest him.
- His cousin, also gay, was ostracized and later murdered, apparently by Hezbollah.
- Karouni made two brief return trips to Lebanon to visit dying parents, stating the visits were compelled, short, and undertaken despite fear.
- The Immigration Judge found Karouni credible but denied asylum and withholding; the BIA affirmed without opinion.

## Issues

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the agency’s determination that Karouni lacked a well-founded fear of future persecution in Lebanon.
2. Whether homosexuals in Lebanon constitute a “particular social group,” and whether persecution for homosexual “conduct” can be treated as distinct from persecution for homosexual “status.”

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit granted the petition for review, vacated the BIA’s decision, and remanded.
- The court held the record compelled the conclusion that Karouni had a well-founded fear of future persecution in Lebanon on account of membership in a particular social group: homosexuals.
- The court rejected a status-versus-conduct distinction; targeting homosexual acts was treated as persecution on account of being homosexual.
- The court found the IJ relied on speculation and conjecture rather than the evidentiary record, including country conditions and individualized threats.
- The court ruled that brief, compelled return trips to visit dying parents did not negate a well-founded fear.
- The court indicated the IJ’s reliance on unrelated criminal convictions to undermine fear was speculative and not a proper basis to deny the claim on the record presented.

## Legal Principles

- When the agency finds an applicant credible and the BIA makes no independent findings, the reviewing court accepts the applicant’s factual account as true for purposes of substantial-evidence review.
- A “particular social group” under the INA may include homosexuals in a given country where the group is targeted for persecution.
- In this context, persecution for engaging in homosexual acts is not meaningfully separable from persecution for being homosexual; both satisfy the “on account of” nexus to group membership.
- A well-founded fear may be shown through credible individualized evidence corroborated by country-conditions evidence; the agency may not deny relief based on speculation rather than substantial evidence.
- Brief, compelled return visits for family emergencies do not automatically defeat an otherwise well-founded fear.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit set aside the denial of relief because the evidence required a finding that Karouni faced a well-founded fear of persecution in Lebanon based on membership in the particular social group of homosexuals and because the agency’s contrary conclusions rested on conjecture and an improper status/acts distinction.


Karouni v. Gonzales, 399 F.3d 1163 (9th Cir. 2005)