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In July 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her home in Istanbul when she got a long-awaited phone call from her husband. It had been four stressful days since their last contact, when he was getting ready to board a flight to Casablanca. The silence had been unbearable.

But the update her husband Idris revealed was more alarming. He told her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been detained and jailed. Authorities told him he would be extradited to China. "Call everyone who can rescue me," he urged, before the line went silent.

Life as Uyghurs in Turkey

Zeynure, in her early thirties, and Idris, 37, are members of the Uyghur ethnic group, which makes up about half of the residents in China's western Xinjiang region. Over the past decade, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are estimated to have been detained in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced torture for ordinary acts like going to a place of worship or wearing a hijab.

The pair had joined many of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the previous decade. They hoped they would find safety in exile, but soon discovered they were wrong.

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

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure became an language instructor, while Idris began as a translator and artist, helping to publish Uyghur media and printed works. They had three children and enjoyed free 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 summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. Reports indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his previous arrest, which he believed was connected to his work with activists and supporting Uyghur culture. He decided to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had expired, had to remain with the children until her husband could apply for a visa for the family.

A Costly Mistake

Leaving Turkey proved to be a terrible mistake. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials pulled him aside for questioning. "When he was eventually permitted to board the plane, he told me how relieved he was that they had released him, but it felt like a trap to me," Zeynure said. Her deepest concerns were realized when he was taken off the plane and detained by Moroccan authorities.

Over the past decade, China has been utilizing the global police agency Interpol to pursue dissidents and had requested for Idris to be placed on the agency's most-wanted "red notice list." Zeynure says Turkish officials let him board the flight aware he would be arrested upon landing in Morocco.

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

Family Interference

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

Her parents had a disturbing warning. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Maybe we can assist you,'" she stated. "I knew there must be some authorities 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 caring for your children,' they told me. 'Avoid saying anything negative 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 hijabs forcibly removed in public by the authorities and had been resolved to live in a country with religious freedom.

"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 social media or these platforms. But I had to do something to rescue my husband – I had to tell the truth to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be abused 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 blissful days spent in the countryside with her elders, who were farmers. "I'd play with the sheep and poultry. I don't know if I will ever have that kind of opportunity again. The family around the home and land. It was too beautiful, like a scene from a story."

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

China says it is addressing extremism through 'controlling unauthorized religious activities' and 'training centers', but other nations, including the US, say its actions constitute genocide. Zeynure says she never felt free to practice her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "People who went on pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were arrested and transferred to jail and told they must have some issue in their mind.

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

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

Zeynure says she was right away reassured by Idris. "I saw he was very truthful 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 different."

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within 60 days they were wed and prepared 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 shared ethnicity. "It felt like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a teacher and creative, 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 relief at finding a place of safety overseas was short-lived. Beijing has become a prominent force in pursuing dissidents living in exile through the use of monitoring, threats and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent method of control: using China's increasing financial influence to pressure other nations to yield to its demands, including detaining and deporting Uyghurs it wants to silence.

Fighting for Freedom

After the call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol red notice against him, Zeynure knew she only had a limited time 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 Europe and the US and begged for help. She was fearless despite China having already shown a willingness 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 online platforms. To her amazement, similar protests soon occurred in Morocco calling for Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were compelled to put out a announcement saying his deportation was a matter for the judicial system to decide.

In early August 2021, Interpol cancelled Idris's red notice after being pressed to review his case by human rights groups. But that did not prevent a Moroccan court later deciding he should still be sent back to China. Zeynure says there was significant political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|