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

But the news her husband Idris delivered was even worse. He told her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities stated he would be sent back to China. "Contact everyone who can assist me," he urged, before the line went dead.

Existence as Uyghurs in Exile

Zeynure, in her early thirties, and Idris, in his late thirties, are members of the mostly Muslim community, which constitutes about 50% of the residents in China's western Xinjiang region. Over the last ten years, over a million Uyghurs are reported to have been detained in so-called "vocational training camps," where they faced abuse for ordinary acts like going to a place of worship or wearing a headscarf.

The pair had joined thousands of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the 2010s. They believed they would find refuge in their new home, but quickly found they were wrong.

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

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an English teacher, while Idris started as a interpreter and designer, helping to publish Uyghur media and printed works. They had a family of three kids and enjoyed able to practice as Muslims.

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 panicked. News indicated that Beijing was urging Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk 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 expired, had to remain with the children until her husband could apply for a travel document for the family.

A Costly Mistake

Leaving Turkey proved to be a terrible mistake. At the airport, immigration officials pulled him aside for questioning. "When he was finally 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," she recalled. Her worst fears were realized when he was removed from the plane and detained by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been using the international police agency Interpol to target political refugees and had requested for Idris to be added on the agency's high-priority "red notice list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials let him board the flight aware he would be apprehended upon arrival in Morocco.

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

Parental Interference

Soon after hearing of her husband's detention, Zeynure received an unexpected phone call from her family in Xinjiang. She had been separated from her relatives since they visited her in Turkey in 2016 and were imprisoned for several months upon their going back to China.

Her parents had a chilling warning. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can help you,'" she stated. "I knew there must be some police there with them and just acted 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. 'Avoid saying anything negative about China.'"

But with her husband's life at stake, the quiet-mannered Zeynure was not going to stay quiet. She had been raised seeing women having their head coverings ripped off 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 looking after my family; I didn't even have social media or these platforms. But I had to do something to save my husband – I had to tell the truth to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be tortured or killed. They pushed me to raise my voice."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of memories 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'd play with the sheep and poultry. I don't know if I will ever have that type of chance again. The relatives around the house and farm. It was too beautiful, like a scene from a story."

The second was as a Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, of school holidays cut short by forced teachings of "political anthems" and being prohibited from attending the mosque or observing Ramadan.

China says it is addressing radicalism through 'controlling illegal religious activities' and 'training facilities', but other nations, including the US, say its actions amount to ethnic cleansing. Zeynure says she never felt free to follow her faith in Xinjiang. "Individuals who went on religious journey to Mecca abroad were detained and transferred to prison and told they must have some problem in their brain.

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

She eventually decided to leave China after returning home from university 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 overseas and told us perhaps we could meet and go together."

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

A New Life 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 comparable language and shared background. "It felt like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a educator and designer, they could also support the Uyghur population in diaspora. "We have many kids now in China being raised without Uyghur traditions or language so we think it's our responsibility to not let it die out," she says.

But their sense of safety at finding a place of safety abroad was short-lived. Beijing has become a prominent force in pursuing dissidents living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a newer tool of control: using China's increasing economic leverage to pressure other countries to yield to its will, including arresting and deporting Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting for Freedom

After the call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol red notice hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of opportunity to try to stop his extradition to China. She immediately contacted as many Uyghur support groups as she could find listed online in the EU and the US and begged for assistance. She was brave despite China having already demonstrated a willingness to target the relatives of other individuals.

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

In the start of August 2021, Interpol cancelled Idris's alert after being pressed to reexamine his case by human rights groups. But that did not stop a Moroccan court later ruling he should still be extradited to China. Zeynure says there was significant political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|