Opinion ID: 202383
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Motion to Reconsider and Motion to Reopen

Text: 26 After the Board had affirmed the IJ's order without opinion on October 6, 2004, Abdullah moved to reconsider on October 22, 2004. The Board denied the motion on January 6, 2005. On March 11, 2005, Abdullah filed a motion to reopen, submitting new evidence consisting of national daily newspapers, which amount to testimonials and affidavits, and asserting the same claims made in his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection, and claiming that his previous testimony was credible. He argued that the IJ had erred in questioning his credibility regarding the newspaper articles when the printing technology based in Pakistan couldn't be compared to that of the United States. He further argued in the motion that his family and property were under attack in Pakistan and that his family was in hiding. 27 The attached exhibit contained 21 newspaper clippings allegedly from newspapers said to be circulated in Peshawar, Karachi, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 4 The clippings were dated between January 24, 2005 and January 31, 2005 and were accompanied by translations done by an Ovais Shekhani, along with several dozen additional, untranslated and unmarked pages. 28 The translation of one clipping from the Daily Katehra, allegedly circulated in Peshawar on January 31, 2005, referred to the heaving (sic) firing on the house of Awami National Party's Provisional Leader Abdullah Abid. A clipping from the Daily Jihad in Peshawar on January 31, 2005 is translated by Shekhani to say that Abdullah's family has been threatened over the telephone and that his wife and son want to Hunger Strike in front of the United Nation office and Human rights office. Two similar reports are included from the Daily Haider in Peshawar and the Daily Surkhab in Peshawar on January 31, 2005. A clipping in English from the Daily Times in Karachi dated January 27, 2005 appears to be an advertisement placed by Abdullah's wife entitled Appeal for Protection. It details attacks on her family's home, her financial difficulties, and closes with an appeal to the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan to help our family relocate in any third country to spend threats-free life. 29 A translated excerpt from the Daily Musalmaan in Islamabad, dated January 27, 2005, is a bureau report from Mardan stating that a human rights commissioner and reporter separately strongly condemned the gun fire from terrorist [sic] at ANP's provisional leader Abdullah Abid house, and gave assurance of full support. The same Mardan bureau report seems to have been printed in the Daily Ausaf and Daily Jinnah in Islamabad and the Daily Katehra in Peshawar on January 27, 2005. A translated Mardan bureau report from the Daily Jihad in Peshawar dated January 25, 2005 states that a firing on the house of Abdullah was designed to target his family and stop his return home from the United States. A translated Mardan bureau report from the Daily Islam in Peshawar dated January 25, 2005 states that some unknown guys did a heavy gun fire at the house of Awami National Party Abdullah Abid, however, all family members are save [sic]. It goes on to state that police officers rushed to the house to begin an investigation. A translated Mardan bureau report from the Daily Katehra in Peshawar dated January 25, 2005 states that Abdullah's wife has said that she has been getting telephonic threats designed to change her husband's political views. 30 A translated Mardan bureau report from the Daily Jihad in Peshawar dated January 25, 2005 refers to the gun shots at Abdullah's house and the fact that Abdullah's wife has said that she has received telephonic threats. The report explained that the shots are designed to keep her husband from returning to Pakistan. His wife then said in response that her husband is being declare [sic] innocent by USA courts on which they response [sic] back that when they don't accept USA how they going to accept there [sic] courts and there [sic] decisions. A translated Mardan bureau report from the Daily Surkhab in Peshawar dated January 24, 2005 reports heavy gun fire at Abdullah's house but that his family was unharmed. A translated Mardan bureau report from the Daily Jinnah in Islamabad dated January 24, 2005 reports gun fire at Abdullah's house. Similar reports ran the same day in the Daily Subh in Peshawar, the Daily Khabrain in Peshawar, the Daily Jang of Rawalpindi/Islamabad, the Daily Mashriq in Peshawar, the Daily Pakistan in Peshawar and the Daily AAJ in Peshawar. No specific mention is made in these articles of the Massachusetts sexual assault charges against Abdullah. 31 On June 10, 2005, the Board denied Abdullah's motion to reopen, observing that motions to reopen are disfavored and that Abdullah bore a very heavy burden in making his request to seek reopening. The Board stated that Abdullah had submitted a variety of newspaper articles similar in nature to the article that the Immigration Judge found to be doctored. The Board wrote: 32 while the articles are of recent date, we do not find that [Abdullah] has made a persuasive case that the new evidence he has submitted would change the previous decisions in this case, in which both the Immigration Judge and this Board concluded that [Abdullah] had not established that he qualifies for asylum or withholding of removal. Accordingly, [the Board found] that [Abdullah] has not met his heavy burden to have his proceedings reopened.