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In the summer of 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her residence in Turkey's largest city when she received a desperately anticipated phone call from her husband. There had been four agonizing days since their last communication, when he was getting ready to board a flight to Morocco. The lack of communication had been difficult.

But the news her husband Idris shared was more alarming. He explained that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been detained and imprisoned. Authorities informed him he would be sent back to China. "Contact everyone who can rescue me," he urged, before the line went silent.

Life as Uyghurs in Exile

The wife, in her early thirties, and Idris, 37, are members of the mostly Muslim community, which constitutes about half of the population in China's western Xinjiang region. Over the past decade, over a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are reported to have been detained in alleged "re-education camps," where they faced torture for ordinary actions like going to a place of worship or wearing a hijab.

The couple had been among thousands of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the 2010s. They hoped they would find security 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," Zeynure stated.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure became an language instructor, while Idris started as a interpreter and designer, helping to publish Uyghur news and publications. They had a family of three kids and enjoyed able to practice as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who worked in a book repository stocking Uyghur books, was detained in the summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. News indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his previous detention, which he believed was linked to his work with activists and promoting Uyghur culture. He chose to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had lapsed, had to remain with the children until her husband could apply for a travel document for the whole family.

A Terrible Error

Departing Turkey turned out to be a disastrous mistake. At the airport, immigration officials pulled him aside for questioning. "After he was finally allowed to board the plane, he told me how happy he was that they had let him go, but it felt like a trap to me," Zeynure said. Her deepest concerns were confirmed when he was removed from the plane and arrested by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been utilizing the global 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 followed would lead her to do what many Uyghurs dread most: challenge China, despite the consequences.

Family Pressure

Soon after learning of her husband's detention, Zeynure received an surprising phone call from her parents in Xinjiang. She had been cut off from her family since they came to see her in Turkey in 2016 and were imprisoned for several months upon their going back to China.

Her parents had a disturbing message. "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. 'Avoid doing anything except feeding your children,' they told me. 'Avoid saying anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's life at risk, the quiet-mannered Zeynure was not going to stay quiet. She had grown up seeing women having their hijabs forcibly removed in open by the authorities 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 looking after my family; I didn't even have Facebook or Twitter. But I had to do something to rescue my husband – I had to reveal the reality 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 two distinct types of memories of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the rural areas with her grandparents, who were agricultural workers. "I'd play with the animals and chickens. I don't know if I will ever have that kind of opportunity again. The family around the house and land. It was too wonderful, like a scene from a book."

The second was as a religious minority in Xinjiang, of school holidays interrupted by forced teachings of "political anthems" and being banned from going to the mosque or practicing Ramadan.

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

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

She finally decided to depart China after returning home from college in another part of China to a growing repression on beliefs in 2011. It was then that she was introduced to Idris by one of her classmates. "She was aware we both had taken the decision to go overseas and told us maybe we could meet and go as a group."

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 marry me, but Idris was unique."

A New Life in Turkey

Within 60 days they were wed and prepared to move for a new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many believers and Uyghurs already living there, with a similar language and shared ethnicity. "It felt like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a educator and creative, they could also help the Uyghur population in diaspora. "There are many children now in China being raised without Uyghur traditions 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 secure location abroad was temporary. Beijing has become a global leader in targeting dissidents living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was faced was a newer tool of repression: using China's growing financial influence to force other nations to bend to its demands, including detaining and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to silence.

Campaigning for Freedom

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 chance to try to prevent his deportation to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur support groups as she could find advertised online in Europe and the US and pleaded for assistance. She was brave despite China having already demonstrated a readiness to go after the relatives of other targets.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the Moroccan embassy in Istanbul, and posting updates on online platforms. To her amazement, copycat protests soon occurred in Morocco demanding 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 pressed to reexamine his case by advocacy organizations. But that did not stop a Moroccan court later deciding he should still be sent back to China. Zeynure says there was huge political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|