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In July 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure 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 communication, when he was preparing to take a flight to Morocco. The lack of communication had been unbearable.

But the information her husband Idris delivered was even worse. He told her that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been arrested and jailed. Authorities informed him he would be extradited to China. "Call everyone who can assist me," he urged, before the line went silent.

Existence as Uyghurs in Turkey

Zeynure, in her early thirties, and Idris, in his late thirties, are members of the Uyghur community, which constitutes about 50% of the residents in China's western Xinjiang region. Over the past decade, more than a million Uyghurs are believed to have been detained in so-called "vocational training camps," where they faced torture for ordinary actions like going to a place of worship or using a hijab.

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

"I was told that the Beijing officials threatened to close all its factories in the country if Morocco released him," Zeynure stated.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an English teacher, while Idris began as a translator and artist, assisting to publish Uyghur news and publications. They had a family of three kids and enjoyed able to live as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who was employed in a library stocking Uyghur books, was detained in the mid-year of 2021, Idris panicked. Reports indicated that Beijing was urging Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his previous arrest, which he suspected was connected to his work with advocates and supporting Uyghur culture. He chose to escape 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 Terrible Mistake

Departing Turkey turned out to be a terrible mistake. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials pulled him aside for interrogation. "When he was eventually permitted to board 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 realized when he was taken off the plane and arrested by Moroccan authorities.

Over the last ten years, China has been utilizing the international police agency Interpol to pursue dissidents and had requested for Idris to be added on the agency's most-wanted "alert list." Zeynure says Turkish officials let him board the flight knowing he would be apprehended upon arrival in Morocco.

What followed would convince her to do what many Uyghurs dread most: challenge China, regardless of the risks.

Family Pressure

Soon after hearing of her husband's detention, Zeynure received an unexpected 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 going back to China.

Her parents had a disturbing warning. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Maybe we can help you,'" Zeynure explained. "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. 'Don't do anything except feeding your children,' they told me. 'Don't say anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's life at stake, the quiet-mannered Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had been raised seeing women having their head coverings ripped off in public 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 Facebook or Twitter. But I had to do something to rescue my husband – I had to tell the reality to the international community. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be tortured or killed. They forced me to raise my voice."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of memories of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the countryside with her elders, who were agricultural workers. "I used to play with the animals and chickens. I don't know if I will ever have that type of opportunity again. The relatives around the home and land. It was too wonderful, like a picture from a story."

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

China says it is tackling radicalism through 'managing unauthorized religious activities' and 'vocational education centers', but other countries, including the US, say its actions amount to ethnic cleansing. Zeynure says she never felt able to practice her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "People who went on pilgrimage to Mecca abroad were arrested and transferred to jail and told they must have some problem in their mind.

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

She eventually decided to depart China after returning home from university in Eastern China to a increasing crackdown on religious freedoms in 2011. It was then that she was introduced to Idris by one of her school friends. "She was aware we both had taken the choice to go abroad and told us perhaps we could get together and go as a group."

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

A New Life 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 Muslims and Uyghurs already residing there, with a comparable language and common ethnicity. "It was like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a teacher and designer, they could also support the Uyghur population in exile. "There are many children now in China growing up without Uyghur culture or dialect so we think it's our duty to not let it die out," she says.

But their relief at finding a secure location abroad was temporary. Beijing has become a prominent force 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 control: using China's growing financial influence to pressure other countries to bend to its will, including detaining and deporting Uyghurs it wants to silence.

Fighting for Release

After the 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 stop his deportation to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur support groups as she could find listed on the internet in the EU and the US and begged for help. She was brave despite China having already demonstrated a willingness to go after the family members of other individuals.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting information on online platforms. To her amazement, similar protests soon occurred in Morocco demanding Idris's release. Moroccan officials were compelled to put out a announcement saying his deportation was a issue for the courts to determine.

In early August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's alert after being pressed to reexamine his case by human rights groups. 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|