Ram Chandra Nair, Petitioner, v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Respondent, 127 F.3d 1105 (9th Cir. 1997)

MEMORANDUM^* 

This is a petition for review of a BIA denial of asylum and withholding of deportation. The petitioner is an ethnic Indian and citizen of Fiji. The claim arises out of an episode that occurred shortly after the 1987 coup. The petitioner credibly testified that he was stopped at a roadblock, detained and beaten for a short period, and then warned not to participate in further political activities.

We conclude that the incident is not materially different from the one that occurred in Prasad v. INS, 47 F.3d 336 (9th Cir. 1995). There we held that a similarly brief detention and beating was not "so overwhelming so as to necessarily constitute persecution by the Fijian Government on account of political opinion or race." Id. at 339.

Petitioner contends that, in addition to the beating, his house was burned by unidentified persons. He has not shown any link between the burning and the detention, or between the burning and his political opinion. He has not shown that he was individually targeted on account of his race or political opinion in connection with that incident, or in connection with the harassment of his children at school.

Petition for review denied.