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In July 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her home in Turkey's largest city when she got a long-awaited phone call from her husband. It had been four painful days since their last communication, when he was getting ready to board a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been unbearable.

But the information her husband Idris delivered was more alarming. He informed her that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been detained and jailed. Authorities told him he would be deported to China. "Contact anyone who can assist me," he said, before the line went silent.

Existence as Ethnic Minority in Turkey

Zeynure, 31 years old, and Idris, 37, are part of the mostly Muslim ethnic group, which constitutes about 50% of the residents in China's western Xinjiang province. Over the last ten years, more than a million Uyghurs are reported to have been detained in alleged "re-education camps," where they faced mistreatment for ordinary actions like attending a mosque or wearing a headscarf.

The pair had joined many of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the previous decade. They hoped they would find refuge in exile, but soon found they were mistaken.

"I was told that the Beijing officials warned to shut down all its industrial plants in the nation if Morocco released him," she explained.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure became an language instructor, while Idris began as a interpreter and designer, helping to publish Uyghur news and printed works. They had three children and enjoyed able to practice as followers of Islam.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who was employed in a book repository stocking Uyghur books, was detained in the summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. Reports indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his prior arrest, which he believed was connected to his work with activists and supporting Uyghur culture. He chose to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had expired, had to stay behind with the children until her husband could request a visa for the whole family.

A Costly Mistake

Departing Turkey turned out to be a disastrous mistake. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials took Idris aside for questioning. "After he was finally allowed to get on the plane, he told me how relieved he was that they had let him go, but it felt like a set-up to me," she recalled. Her deepest concerns were confirmed when he was taken off the plane and arrested by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been utilizing the international police agency Interpol to target dissidents and had asked for Idris to be placed on the agency's high-priority "alert list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials allowed him board the flight knowing he would be apprehended upon arrival in Morocco.

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

Parental Interference

Shortly after hearing of her husband's detention, Zeynure received an unexpected phone call from her parents in Xinjiang. She had been cut off from her relatives since they came to see her in Turkey in 2016 and were jailed 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. Maybe we can help you,'" she stated. "I knew there must be some authorities there with them and just pretended 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. 'Don't say anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at risk, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had grown up witnessing women having their hijabs ripped off in public by the police and had been resolved 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 looking after my family; I didn't even have Facebook or Twitter. But I had to do something to save my husband – I had to tell the reality to the international community. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be tortured or killed. They pushed me to raise my voice."

Childhood in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of memories of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of happy days spent in the rural areas with her elders, who were farmers. "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 farm. It was too wonderful, like a scene from a book."

The second was as a Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, of school holidays interrupted by mandatory teachings of "communist songs" and being prohibited from attending the mosque or observing Ramadan.

China says it is tackling radicalism through 'managing unauthorized religious activities' and 'training centers', but other countries, including the US, say its actions amount to genocide. Zeynure says she never felt free to follow her faith in Xinjiang. "People who went on pilgrimage to Mecca abroad were detained and sent to jail and told they must have some issue in their mind.

"They wanted Uyghur people to forget their faith and heritage. They said 'you should trust in us, we provided you jobs and this good life here'," says Zeynure.

She eventually decided to leave China after returning home from university in another part of China to a increasing repression on beliefs in 2011. It was then that she was connected to Idris by one of her classmates. "She was aware we both had made the choice to go abroad and told us maybe we could meet and go as a group."

Zeynure says she was right away 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."

A New Life in Turkey

Within two months they were wed and prepared to move for a new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already residing there, with a similar tongue and shared ethnicity. "It was like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a teacher and creative, they could also help the community in diaspora. "There are many kids now in China being raised without Uyghur culture or language so we think it's our duty to not let it die out," she says.

But their sense of safety at finding a place of safety abroad was temporary. Beijing has become a prominent force in pursuing critics living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, intimidation and violence. But what Idris was faced was a more recent tool of control: using China's growing economic leverage to pressure other nations to bend to its will, including arresting and deporting Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Campaigning for Freedom

After the phone call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol alert against him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of opportunity to try to prevent his extradition to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find advertised on the internet in the EU and the US and begged for assistance. She was fearless despite China having already shown a willingness to go after the family members of other targets.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the Moroccan embassy in Istanbul, and sharing updates on social media. To her amazement, copycat protests soon occurred in Morocco demanding Idris's release. Moroccan officials were compelled to issue a statement saying his deportation was a matter for the courts to determine.

In early August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's red notice after being urged to review his case by advocacy organizations. But that did not prevent a Moroccan court later ruling he should still be sent back to China. Zeynure says there was significant diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|