Yarsha Tushar Shah and her two children, Kunal and Forum, natives of India, petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (BIA) decision dismissing their appeal from the denial of their applications for asylum and withholding of deportation. Both the BIA and the Immigration Judge (IJ) based their denial of the Shahs’ application on an adverse credibility finding. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1105a (1996). 1 We conclude that the adverse credibility determination rests on impermissible grounds. We deem the petitioners credible, and remand to the BIA.
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
The following factual background is drawn from the Shahs’ application for asylum, Mrs. Shah’s testimony at the asylum hearing, and the corroborating evidence they submitted. Mrs. Shah testified that members of the mainly Muslim and ruling Congress Party (CP) murdered her husband, Tushar Vi Shah, and repeatedly threatened to kill the rest of the immediate family because of their active involvement in the predominantly Hindu Bharatiya Ja-nata Party (BJP).
Mr. and Mrs. Shah became involved in the BJP in 1984. As members, they raised funds for the party and organized rallies. Eventually, Mr. Shah became the BJP’s paid employee and was very active in its campaign to win the 1991 election from the CP.
Members of the CP began to target the Shahs in July of 1991. In the time leading up to the 1991 election, Mr. Shah was repeatedly arrested; tortured, and ordered to stop working with the BJP. Although the CP threatened to kill Mr. Shah’s family unless he left the BJP, he refused.
The CP’s threats against the Shahs only got worse after the election. Its members attacked the family’s home, leaving behind a threatening letter. When the Shahs reported the attack, the police refused to assist them. Ignored by the police, the Shahs turned to the BJP for protection. On July 7, 1991, a BJP leader responded in a letter to Mr. Shah’s requests for help. In the letter, which the Shahs submitted as corroborating evidence, he reports to Mr. Shah that, “[w]e have asked the congress party to investigate this and are requesting special protection from police dept, or secret service.” But he counsels the Shahs to go into hiding for two to three years until “there is safety to your-life [sic] and that of your family.” He adds, the “BJP is really proud of you and thank you for. your support and dedication for the party. Since 1984 we have received your valuable time and you have dedicated your life for the spread of our party.”
The mounting threats against the Shahs’ lives persuaded Mr. Shah that escaping from India might be necessary. He and Mrs. Shah applied for visitors’ visas from the United States Embassy, which they received in August of 1991. As Mrs. Shah testified, “he has thought up to obtain a visa and hold it in case of necessity I can— I can use it.”
*1066 The CP murdered Mr. Shah on November 5, 1991. He had stopped his ear at a red light when a truck suddenly smashed into the rear, killing him. The truck driver fled the scene in a getaway car. When Mrs. Shah asked the police for a report of the incident, they refused to give her one because of the family’s affiliation with the BJP; In a letter to Mrs. Shah, dated November 21, 1991, which Mrs. Shah submitted as corroborating evidence, a BJP official wrote, “I think we all know who is behind this murder” and warned her that, “[y]ou and kids are the target of these killers and you have to go underground [sic].”
The threats and attacks against the family did not end with Mr. Shah’s murder. The CP repeatedly harassed the children at school, until they were eventually forced to withdraw. Members of the CP appeared at the Shahs’ house and threw stones. They called at all hours to threaten the family, warning Mrs. Shah that, “we have murdered your husband and we’ll murder you and also children.”
In fear of their lives, Mrs. Shah and her children abandoned their home in Ahmadabad. At first, they fled to a city called Surat in February of 1992, but they stayed only two months because the CP continued to threaten them. At the urging of the BJP, Mrs. Shah and her two children escaped from India altogether, and arrived in Los Angeles as visitors for pleasure on August 12, 1992.
Mrs. Shah testified that the CP will kill her and her children if they are forced to return to India. Tensions between Muslims and Hindus, frequently erupting into rioting and bloodshed, have escalated. People from home have warned Mrs. Shah against returning. In a letter Mrs. Shah submitted as evidence, dated December 12, 1994, a BJP leader warned her, “[y]our life or that of children is still in great danger if you decide to come back.” He advised her; “[d]o not call your family members and give your address to anybody.” She and her children applied for asylum on June 25, 1994. She explained in her asylum .application that, “I being a widow of BJP worker will face the smae [sic] fate as that of my husband. Moreover I cannot go back to India-as we all fear that we will be killed in India.”
In addition to the letters from the BJP, Mrs. Shah introduced several affidavits into evidence to support her claim. The first affidavit, dated January of 1996, is written by a friend of Mr. Shah. It corroborates Mrs. Shah’s testimony about the circumstances of her late husband’s death stating that Mr. Shah died “due to rival political party had murdered him and managed to convert it into accidental death.” The friend also describes in his affidavit how Mrs. Shah and her children moved repeatedly after Mr. Shah’s death until it became too dangerous for them to remain in India. The second affidavit, written by a close relation of the Shahs, corroborates Mrs.- Shah’s claim that her late husband was a BJP employee and that his death was no accident. The affiant further writes that Mrs. Shah and her children “are not safe and it is not advisable, for them to stay in India.” In another affidavit, Mrs. Shah’s brother describes how Mr. Shah was murdered for political reasons. He adds that, after the murder, “his family had a great shock and suffered their life in dangerous position and they had left their house within short period.... ”
Mrs. Shah also introduced her late husband’s death certificate into evidence. It lists the date of his death as November 5, 1991, which is consistent with Mrs. Shah’s testimony, the letters from the BJP, and the affidavits of friends and relatives.
II. IMMIGRATION PROCEEDINGS
The Shahs’ asylum hearing was on March 18, 1996. That day, the IJ issued an oral decision denying the Shahs asylum and withholding of deportation on credibility grounds. He cited several reasons for deeming the Shahs not credible: (1) Mrs. Shah’s corroborating evidence provided insufficient detail about the circumstances of Mr. Shah’s death and why she feared re *1067 turning to India; (2) Mr. Shah’s death certificate listed the date of his death as November 5, 1991, while a stamp on the same document contained a date of April 1, 1991; (3) Mrs. Shah failed to adequately explain why the death certificate did not list the cause of Mr. Shah’s.death and why she did not present another death certificate which would; (4) the fact that the couple’s passports listed Mr. and Mrs. Shahs’ occupations as accountant and housekeeper respectively and not as political workers; (5) insufficient evidence of her involvement in the BJP and of the harm she would suffer in India; and (6) an inconsistency between her claim that she would suffer persecution in India as a BJP member and assertions in a State Department country report on India stating that the “BJP’s many electoral successes belie the assertion that it is not possible for a BJP member to live peaceably in India. Nor is it credible to allege that ... the Government systematically persecutes BJP members.”
The BIA agreed with the IJ that the Shahs were not credible and it dismissed their appeal on this ground alone. It adopted only three of the six reasons the IJ used to deem them not credible: (!) its observation that the death certificate contained two separate dates; (2) the fact that Mr. Shah’s passport identified him as an accountant, rather than a BJP employee; (3) and the State Department’s suggestion that a BJP member who claimed that he could not live peaceably in India was not credible. The BIA then added four new bases for its adverse- credibility holding: (1) Mrs. Shah’s failure to explain why she did not provide the IJ with the records on which the death certificate was based; (2) her failure to authenticate letters from BJP leaders; (3) its belief that it “is unbelievable” that Mr. Shah could have worked for the BJP for more than ten years given the small number of letters the Shahs received; and (4) her failure to present more documentation given.her claim that her husband was a BJP employee. Reasoning that its finding of adverse credibility “is dispositive for purposes of eligibility,” the BIA did not determine whether the Shahs’ evidence, if believed, could meet the asylum standard.
III. DISCUSSION
A. The BIA’s Adverse Credibility Determination
We must uphold the BIA’s denial of asylum if it is supported by reasonable, substantial evidence in the record.
INS v. Elias-Zacarias,
1. The Discrepancy Between the Death Certificate’s Official Date Stamp and the Date Mrs. Shah Testified Mr. Shah Died.
The BIA based an adverse credibility finding on its observation “that the death certificate contains a date inconsistent with the date claimed by the adult female respondent as the date of her husband’s death.” Specifically, the BIA pointed to the fact that there are two different dates on the death certificate Mrs. Shah offered- as corroborating evidence. Although it is true that the official stamp on the certificate is marked with the date of April 1, 1991, the date of Mr. Shah’s death, which is listed as November 5, 1991, fully
*1068
comports with Mrs. Shah’s testimony and the rest of her corroborating evidence. It is well-established that, “minor discrepancies in dates that are attributable to ... typographical errors” cannot properly serve as the basis for an adverse credibility finding.
Damaize-Job v. INS,
In addition, we will not uphold an adverse credibility finding unless the IJ or BIA specifically explains the significance of the discrepancy or points to the petitioner’s obvious evasiveness when asked about it. If discrepancies “cannot be viewed as attempts by the applicant to enhance his claims of persecution, [they] have no bearing on credibility.”
Id.; see also Vilorio-Lopez v. INS,
We conclude that the discrepancy in Mr. Shah’s death certificate is not a proper basis for an adverse, credibility finding in this case. When the IJ asked Mrs. Shah about the two dates, she responded simply that she did not know why the stamp listed an earlier date than the date of her husband’s death. Given that Mrs. Shah was not obviously evasive when she was asked to explain the discrepancy, we will not uphold an adverse credibility finding that rests on this basis “without ‘specific direction’ to any evasiveness in the record.”
Vilorio-Lopez,
2. Mr. Shah’s Occupation as a “Chartered Accountant” on His Passport.
The BIA rested its adverse credibility finding on the observation that, “although the adult female respondent claimed that her husband was employed full-time for the BJP Party, her husband’s passport indicated that he was a chartered accountant.” We do not agree that there is an inconsistency here. Asked at the asylum hearing why the passport did not state that-he worked for the BJP, Mrs. Shah responded, “[h]e used to work as a chartered accountant prior to 1984.” That Mr. Shah was a chartered accountant in 1984, and listed as one in his passport, does not preclude his having been a BJP member and employee afterward. Moreover, Mrs. Shah testified that her husband raised funds for the BJP, which is wholly consistent with his having been an accountant. The BIA’s determination that there was an inconsistency is unsupported by the record.
*1069 3. The BIA’s Use of the State Department’s Report to Find the Shahs Not Credible.
The BIA relied on a statement in a State Department Report to deem the Shahs not credible. The State Department’s report on India included the following sentence: “The BJP’s many' electoral successes belie the assertion that it is not possible for a BJP member to live peaceably in India.” The BIA held that the Shahs’ claim — that they faced persecution in India as BJP members — conflicted with this sentence in the State Department report. It deemed them not credible on this basis.
The BIA erred in basing its adverse credibility finding on the State Department’s belief that BJP members will live in peace because of their party’s recent electoral advances for several reasons. First, we have noted in a related context that, “[w]here an applicant has shown past persecution, evidence that individuals can live peacefully in some parts of applicant’s home country has no bearing on the applicant’s eligibility for asylum or withholding of deportation.”
Singh v. Ilchert,
Second, we have repeatedly held that it is error to rest a decision denying asylum on speculation and conjecture.
See Maini v. INS,
Moreover, by relying exclusively on a blanket statement in a State Department report, the BIA and the IJ failed to make the individualized analysis of an.applicant’s credibility that our case law mandates. It is well-established that “[t]he BIA must have ‘a legitimate articulable basis to question the petitioner’s credibility, and must offer a specific, cogent reason for any stated disbelief.’ ”
Garrovillas,
Finally, it was improper for the BIA to rely on the State Department’s opinion in finding the Shahs not credible “because it is the Attorney General, not the Secretary of State, whom Congress has entrusted with the authority to grant asylum and because ‘there is perennial concern that the [State] Department soft-pedals human rights violations by countries that the United States wants to have good relations with.’ ”
(Gailius v. INS,
4. Mrs. Shah’s Failure to Corroborate Her Husband’s Death Certificate with the Underlying Documents.
The BIA impermissibly relied on Mrs. Shah’s failure to introduce the records underlying her husband’s death certificate to deem the petitioners not credible. It wrote, “if, as the adult female respondent claimed, the death certificate vyas an ‘abstract of records,’ she has not explained why she did not attempt to provide 'the records on which this certificate was based. The circumstances surrounding her 'husband’s death were the most significant evidence the adult female respondent could provide. Yet the document in question sheds no light on the circumstances of his death.”
Mrs. Shah’s failure to present more documentation relating to her husband’s death, or to explain why she did not, was an impermissible basis for an adverse credibility determination for several reasons. First, “corroborative evidence is not necessary for a petitioner to establish past persecution.”
Garrovillas,
Moreover, as we recognized in
Akinmade v. INS,
5. Mrs. Shah’s Failure to Authenticate the Letters She Submitted.
The BIA impermissibly grounded its adverse credibility finding on its observation that “none of these letters [the Shahs submitted] has been authenticated. There is no indication that the letters were actually written by BJP members, or whether they are forged. We note, moreover, that the documents appear to have been manufactured specifically to support an asylum claim.”
The BIA’s suggestion that the letters the Shahs submitted as evidence are unreliable or forgeries is an impermissible basis for deeming them not credible. There is no evidence in the .record to indicate that the letters are anything but what a BJP member would receive from the party’s .leadership. There is certainly no evidence in the record to support the BIA’s apparent belief that the letters are unreliable or forged. The BIA’s belief to the contrary amounts to nothing more than its subjective view of what a letter from a BJP leader to a BJP member would look like. We cannot uphold an adverse credibility finding that rests on conjecture and speculation.
Lopez-Reyes,
6. The Fact that Mrs. Shah Only Had the Letters She Submitted As Evidence In Her Possession.
It was improper for the BIA to conclude that the Shahs were not credible because “[i]t is unbelievable that the adult female respondent’s husband would have worked for the BJP for more than 10 years before his death, yet these were the only pieces of correspondence received by the respondents.” Speculation and conjecture cannot form the basis of an adverse credibility finding, which must instead be based on substantial evidence.
See, e.g., Akinmade,
The BIA’s adverse credibility finding in this case similarly rests on conjecture and speculation, and we therefore cannot uphold it. Nowhere in the BIA’s opinion does it cite to evidence indicating how many letters a member ought to receive from the BJP. In fact, the assertion that Mrs. Shah did not have a sufficient number is based on the BIA’s conjecture about how many letters the BJP would send a decade-long member like Mr. Shah. We will not uphold an adverse credibility finding that rests on a speculative ground.
7. Mrs. Shah’s Failure to Present Other Documentation to Support Her Claim.
Finally, the BIA’s assertion that Mrs. Shah “should have been able to present other documentation to support her claims” since her husband was a member for ten years is an impermissible ground for an adverse credibility finding. First, it is based on'speculation and conjecture that people who have been BJP members for as long as Mr. Shah would have the documentation to prove it. As we explain above, conjecture and speculation cannot serve as a reason for an adverse credibility finding.
Akinmade,
In sum, we reverse the BIA’s adverse credibility determination because it rests on impermissible grounds. Contrary to the BIA’s determination, Mrs. Shah’s testimony was not only internally consistent, but also comported with her asylum application and the documents she submitted as corroboration. We instead deem Mrs. Shah’s testimony credible, as we have done in similar cases.
See, e.g., Akinmade,
B.The Shahs Suffered Persecution on Account of a Political Opinion
Having concluded that the petitioners are credible, we are compelled to find that they suffered past persecution on account of a protected ground.
Elias-Zacarias,
C.Well-Founded Fear of Persecution
Although the Shahs are entitled to a rebuttable presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution because they have shown past persecution,
see 8
C.F.R. § 208.13(b)(1)©;
Singh v. INS,
D. Withholding of Deportation
We must withhold the Shahs’ deportation if they have established a “clear probability of persecution.”
Duarte de Guinac,
Petition for review GRANTED; REMANDED for the Attorney General to exercise her discretion with respect to the asylum claim, and for the grant of withholding of deportation.
Notes
. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 ("IIRIRA”), Pub.L. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (Sept. 30, 1996), repealed this section. Because this case began before April 1, 1997, and the final order of deportation was issued after October 30, 1996, the transitional rules of IIRIRA apply.
See Duarte de Guinac v. INS,
.
We recognize that in
Duarte de Guinac,