The State - News from Oct. 21, 1987

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that a Nicaraguan who said his father was killed by the Sandinista government for opposing confiscation of his property is eligible for political asylum. By a 2-1 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Eric Blanco-Comarribas had shown a “well-founded fear of persecution” if deported to Nicaragua, enough to qualify him for asylum under standards newly set by the Supreme Court. The court said he did not meet the more stringent standard of a “clear probability of persecution,” which would forbid his deportation to Nicaragua. It was one of the first rulings to distinguish between the two standards since the high court’s decision earlier this year.