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In July 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her home in Istanbul when she received a long-awaited phone call from her husband. There had been four painful days since their last contact, when he was preparing to board a flight to Morocco. The lack of communication had been difficult.

But the update her husband Idris shared was even worse. He informed her that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been arrested and jailed. Authorities told him he would be deported to China. "Contact everyone who can assist me," he pleaded, before the line went dead.

Existence as Uyghurs in Exile

The wife, 31 years old, and Idris, 37, are members of the mostly Muslim community, which constitutes about 50% of the population in China's north-western Xinjiang province. Over the past decade, over a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are estimated to have been imprisoned in alleged "re-education camps," where they faced torture for commonplace actions like going to a mosque or wearing a hijab.

The pair had joined many of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the 2010s. They hoped they would find refuge in their new home, but quickly realized they were wrong.

"Authorities informed me that the Beijing officials threatened to close all its factories in the country if Morocco freed him," Zeynure explained.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an language instructor, while Idris started as a translator and designer, helping to produce Uyghur media and printed works. They had three children and felt free to live as followers of Islam.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who was employed in a library containing Uyghur books, was detained in the mid-year of 2021, Idris panicked. Reports indicated that Beijing was urging Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his prior arrest, which he believed was linked to his work with activists and promoting Uyghur culture. He chose to escape to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had lapsed, had to remain with the children until her husband could apply for a visa for the whole family.

A Terrible Mistake

Departing Turkey turned out to be a disastrous decision. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials took Idris aside for questioning. "When he was eventually permitted 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 worst fears were realized when he was removed from the plane and arrested by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been using the international police agency Interpol to pursue political refugees and had requested for Idris to be placed on the agency's most-wanted "red notice list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials let him take the flight knowing he would be apprehended upon landing in Morocco.

What followed would convince her to do what many Uyghurs fear most: challenge China, despite the risks.

Parental Pressure

Shortly after hearing of her husband's detention, Zeynure got an surprising phone call from her parents in Xinjiang. She had been separated from her relatives 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 warning. "They said, 'We know your husband is not with you. Maybe we can assist you,'" Zeynure 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. 'Don't do anything except feeding your children,' they told me. 'Don't say anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at risk, the quiet-mannered Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had grown up witnessing women having their head coverings forcibly removed in open by the authorities 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 caring for 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 truth to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be tortured or die. They forced me to speak out."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has two distinct types of recollections of her early years in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the rural areas with her grandparents, who were farmers. "I'd play with the sheep and chickens. I don't know if I will ever have that kind of chance again. The relatives around the house and land. It was too beautiful, like a scene from a book."

The second was as a religious minority in Xinjiang, of vacations interrupted by forced teachings of "communist songs" and being prohibited from attending the mosque or practicing Ramadan.

China says it is tackling radicalism through 'managing illegal religious activities' and 'vocational education facilities', but other countries, including the US, say its actions amount to ethnic cleansing. 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 prison and told they must have some problem in their brain.

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

She finally decided to leave China after coming back home from college in Eastern China to a increasing crackdown on beliefs in 2011. It was then that she was connected to Idris by one of her classmates. "She knew we both had made the choice to go abroad and told us maybe we could meet and go together."

Zeynure says she was immediately comforted by Idris. "I saw he was very honest and reserved, and couldn't tell lies or do anything wrong. There were some Uyghur men at university who wanted to wed me, but Idris was unique."

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within two months they were married and ready to move for a different existence in Turkey. They knew it was an Islamic country with many believers and Uyghurs already residing there, with a similar tongue and common ethnicity. "It was like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a teacher and creative, they could also support the community in exile. "We have many kids now in China being raised without Uyghur traditions or language so we think it's our duty to not let it disappear," she says.

But their relief at locating a place of safety abroad was short-lived. Beijing has become a global leader in targeting critics abroad through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent tool of control: using China's growing economic leverage to pressure other nations to yield to its will, including arresting and deporting Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting 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 deportation to China. She right away contacted as many Uyghur support groups as she could find listed on the internet in the EU and the US and pleaded for help. She was fearless despite China having already shown a readiness to go after the family members of other targets.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting information on social media. To her amazement, copycat protests soon occurred in Morocco calling for Idris's release. Moroccan officials were forced to issue a announcement saying his extradition was a issue for the courts to decide.

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