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In July 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her residence in Turkey's largest city when she got a long-awaited phone call from her husband. It had been four agonizing days since their last contact, when he was preparing to take a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been difficult.

But the news her husband Idris revealed was more alarming. He informed her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities told him he would be sent back to China. "Call anyone who can rescue me," he said, before the line went silent.

Life as Ethnic Minority in Turkey

The wife, 31 years old, and Idris, 37, are members of the mostly Muslim community, which makes up about half of the residents in China's north-western Xinjiang province. Over the past decade, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are believed to have been detained in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced torture for commonplace actions like going to a mosque or using a headscarf.

The pair had been among many of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the 2010s. They believed they would find safety in exile, but quickly realized they were wrong.

"Authorities informed me that the Chinese government warned to close all its industrial plants in the country if Morocco released him," Zeynure said.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an language instructor, while Idris began as a interpreter and designer, helping to produce Uyghur media and publications. They had a family of three kids and enjoyed free to practice as followers of Islam.

But when one of Idris's close friends, who worked in a library containing Uyghur books, was arrested in the mid-year of 2021, Idris became fearful. Reports indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his prior detention, which he suspected was connected to his work with advocates and supporting Uyghur heritage. He chose to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had expired, had to stay behind with the children until her husband could apply for a travel document for the family.

A Terrible Mistake

Leaving Turkey proved to be a disastrous decision. At the Istanbul airport, immigration officials pulled him aside for questioning. "When he was eventually permitted to get on the plane, he told me how relieved he was that they had released him, but it felt like a set-up to me," Zeynure recalled. Her worst fears were realized when he was taken off the plane and detained by Moroccan authorities.

Over the last ten years, China has been utilizing the global police agency Interpol to target dissidents and had asked for Idris to be placed on the agency's high-priority "red notice list." Zeynure says Turkish officials allowed him board the flight knowing he would be apprehended upon landing in Morocco.

What followed would convince her to do what many Uyghurs dread most: defy China, despite the consequences.

Parental Interference

Soon after hearing of her husband's arrest, Zeynure received an surprising phone call from her family in Xinjiang. She had been cut off from her family since they visited her in Turkey in 2016 and were imprisoned for several months upon their return to China.

Her parents had a disturbing message. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Maybe we can help you,'" she stated. "I realized there must be some authorities there with them and just acted like I didn't know anything. But they insisted and told me not to do anything to help my husband. 'Avoid doing anything except caring for your children,' they told me. 'Avoid saying anything negative about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at stake, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to stay quiet. She had been raised seeing women having their head coverings forcibly removed in public by the police and had been determined to live in a country with freedom of belief.

"Prior to my husband was arrested in Morocco, I didn't do anything. I was just caring for my family; I didn't even have Facebook or Twitter. But I had to do something to rescue my husband – I had to tell the truth to the international community. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be tortured or killed. They forced me to raise my voice."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of recollections of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the countryside with her elders, who were agricultural workers. "I used to play with the sheep and chickens. I don't know if I will ever have that kind of chance again. The family around the house and land. It was too beautiful, like a scene from a story."

The second was as a Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, of school holidays interrupted by mandatory teachings of "political anthems" and being prohibited from attending the religious site or practicing Ramadan.

China says it is tackling radicalism through 'controlling illegal religious activities' and 'vocational education facilities', but other countries, including the US, say its actions amount to genocide. Zeynure says she never felt able to practice her faith in Xinjiang. "Individuals who went on pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were arrested and sent to prison and told they must have some issue in their brain.

"They aimed for Uyghur people to abandon their religion and heritage. They said 'you should believe in us, we provided you employment and this beautiful life here'," says Zeynure.

She finally decided to leave China after returning home from college in Eastern China to a increasing crackdown on religious freedoms in 2011. It was then that she was introduced to Idris by one of her classmates. "She knew we both had taken the choice to go overseas and told us maybe we could meet and go as a group."

Zeynure says she was immediately reassured by Idris. "I realized he was very honest and reserved, and couldn't be dishonest or do anything wrong. There were some Uyghur boys at university who wanted to wed me, but Idris was different."

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within 60 days they were married and ready to leave for a new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Islamic country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already living there, with a similar language and common background. "It was like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a teacher and creative, they could also help the Uyghur population in exile. "We have many kids now in China being raised without Uyghur traditions or dialect so we think it's our responsibility to not let it disappear," she says.

But their relief at finding a place of safety abroad was temporary. Beijing has become a prominent force in targeting dissidents living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, intimidation and physical assault. But what Idris was faced was a newer tool of repression: using China's increasing financial influence to force other countries to yield to its demands, including arresting and deporting Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting for Release

After the call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol red notice hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of opportunity to try to prevent his deportation to China. She right away contacted as many Uyghur support groups as she could find listed online in Europe and the US and pleaded for assistance. She was fearless despite China having already demonstrated a readiness to target the relatives of other targets.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting information on online platforms. To her surprise, copycat protests soon occurred in Morocco demanding Idris's release. Moroccan officials were compelled to issue a statement saying his extradition was a matter for the judicial system to determine.

In early August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's alert after being pressed to reexamine his case by advocacy organizations. But that did not stop a Moroccan court later deciding he should still be extradited to China. Zeynure says there was significant diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|