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In July 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her residence in Turkey's largest city when she got a desperately anticipated phone call from her husband. There had been four agonizing days since their last contact, when he was preparing to board a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been torturous.

But the news her husband Idris shared was more devastating. He told her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been taken into custody and jailed. Authorities informed him he would be sent back to China. "Contact anyone who can assist me," he pleaded, before the line went silent.

Life as Uyghurs in Exile

The wife, in her early thirties, and Idris, in his late thirties, are part of the mostly Muslim community, which makes up about half of the residents in China's north-western Xinjiang province. Over the last ten years, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are reported to have been detained in alleged "re-education camps," where they faced torture for ordinary acts like attending a mosque or wearing a headscarf.

The pair had joined many of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the previous decade. They thought they would find safety in their new home, but quickly found they were mistaken.

"I was told that the Chinese government warned to shut down all its industrial plants in the nation if Morocco released him," Zeynure explained.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure became an English teacher, while Idris started as a translator and artist, assisting to publish Uyghur media and printed works. They had three children and enjoyed free to practice as followers of Islam.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who worked in a library stocking Uyghur books, was detained in the mid-year of 2021, Idris became fearful. Reports indicated that Beijing was urging Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his prior detention, which he suspected was connected to his work with activists and supporting Uyghur culture. He decided to escape to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had lapsed, had to remain with the children until her husband could request a travel document for the family.

A Costly Mistake

Departing Turkey proved to be a terrible mistake. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials took Idris aside for questioning. "When he was finally allowed to board the plane, he told me how happy he was that they had released him, but it felt like a trap to me," Zeynure recalled. Her deepest concerns were realized when he was removed from the plane and arrested by border officials.

Over the last ten years, China has been using the international police agency Interpol to target dissidents and had requested for Idris to be placed on the agency's high-priority "red notice list." Zeynure says Turkish officials let him board the flight knowing he would be arrested upon arrival in Morocco.

What happened next would lead her to do what many Uyghurs dread most: challenge China, despite the consequences.

Family Interference

Shortly after learning of her husband's detention, Zeynure got an surprising phone call from her family in Xinjiang. She had been separated from her family since they visited her in Turkey in 2016 and were imprisoned for a few months upon their return to China.

Her parents had a disturbing message. "They said, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can help you,'" Zeynure explained. "I realized there must be some authorities there with them and just pretended like I didn't know anything. But they persisted and told me not to do anything to help my husband. 'Avoid doing anything except feeding your children,' they told me. 'Don't say anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at stake, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had been raised seeing women having their head coverings ripped off in open by the police and had been resolved to live in a country with religious freedom.

"Before my husband was arrested in Morocco, I didn't do anything. I was just looking after my family; I didn't even have Facebook or these platforms. But I had to do something to save my husband – I had to reveal the truth to the international community. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be tortured or die. They pushed me to raise my voice."

Childhood in Xinjiang

Zeynure has two distinct types of recollections of her early years in Xinjiang. The first was of happy days spent in the rural areas with her grandparents, 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 relatives around the home and land. It was too wonderful, like a scene from a book."

The second was as a Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, of school holidays cut short by forced teachings of "communist songs" and being banned from going to the religious site or observing Ramadan.

China claims it is addressing radicalism through 'controlling unauthorized religious activities' and 'training centers', but other nations, including the US, say its actions constitute genocide. Zeynure says she never felt able to follow her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "Individuals who went on pilgrimage to Mecca abroad were arrested and transferred to jail and told they must have some issue in their brain.

"They wanted Uyghur people to abandon their religion and culture. They said 'you should believe in us, we gave you jobs and this good living here'," says Zeynure.

She finally decided to depart China after returning home from university in another part of 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 made the choice to go overseas and told us maybe we could get together and go together."

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

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within 60 days they were wed and prepared to move for a new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Islamic country with many believers and Uyghurs already residing there, with a similar language and common ethnicity. "It was like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a educator and creative, they could also help the Uyghur population in exile. "There are many children now in China being raised without Uyghur traditions or dialect so we think it's our duty to not let it die out," she says.

But their relief at locating a secure location overseas was short-lived. Beijing has become a global leader in pursuing dissidents abroad through the use of electronic surveillance, intimidation and physical assault. But what Idris was faced was a newer tool of repression: using China's growing financial influence to pressure other nations to bend to its demands, including arresting and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting for Freedom

After the phone call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol red notice against him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of chance to try to prevent his deportation to China. She immediately reached out to as many Uyghur support groups as she could find listed online in Europe and the US and begged for help. She was brave despite China having already shown a willingness to go after the family members of other individuals.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and sharing updates on online platforms. To her surprise, copycat protests soon followed in Morocco demanding Idris's release. Moroccan officials were compelled to issue a announcement saying his deportation was a matter for the courts to decide.

In early August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's alert after being pressed to review his case by human rights groups. But that did not prevent a Moroccan court later ruling he should still be sent back to China. Zeynure says there was huge political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|