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In the summer of 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her home in Turkey's largest city when she received a long-awaited phone call from her husband. It 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 difficult.

But the information her husband Idris delivered was more alarming. He told her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been detained and jailed. Authorities stated he would be deported to China. "Call anyone who can assist me," he said, before the line went silent.

Existence as Ethnic Minority in Turkey

Zeynure, in her early thirties, and Idris, 37, are part of the mostly Muslim community, which makes up about half of the population in China's western Xinjiang province. Over the last ten years, over a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are estimated to have been detained in alleged "re-education camps," where they faced mistreatment for ordinary actions like attending a place of worship or using a headscarf.

The couple had joined thousands of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the 2010s. They believed they would find safety in exile, but quickly discovered they were mistaken.

"I was told that the Chinese government warned to close all its industrial plants in the nation if Morocco freed him," she stated.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure became an language instructor, while Idris started as a interpreter and artist, assisting to produce Uyghur news and printed works. They had a family of three kids and enjoyed able to practice as followers of Islam.

But when one of Idris's close friends, who worked in a library stocking Uyghur books, was detained in the summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. Reports indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his prior detention, which he suspected was linked to his work with advocates and supporting Uyghur culture. He decided to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had lapsed, had to remain with the children until her husband could request a travel document for the family.

A Terrible Mistake

Departing Turkey turned out to be a disastrous decision. At the airport, immigration officials took Idris aside for interrogation. "After he was eventually allowed to get on the plane, he told me how happy he was that they had let him go, but it felt like a set-up to me," she said. Her deepest concerns were realized when he was taken off the plane and arrested by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been utilizing the global police agency Interpol to pursue dissidents and had requested for Idris to be added on the agency's high-priority "alert list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials allowed him take 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 Pressure

Shortly after hearing of her husband's arrest, Zeynure got an unexpected phone call from her parents in Xinjiang. She had been separated from her relatives since they came to see her in Turkey in 2016 and were jailed for several months upon their return to China.

Her parents had a disturbing warning. "They said, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can assist you,'" she explained. "I realized 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. 'Don't say anything negative about China.'"

But with her husband's life 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 public by the police and had been determined to live in a country with freedom of belief.

"Before 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 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 abused or die. They pushed me to speak out."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has two distinct types of recollections of her childhood 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 poultry. I don't know if I will ever have that kind of chance again. The family around the house and farm. It was too wonderful, like a scene from a story."

The second was as a religious minority in Xinjiang, of vacations cut short by forced teachings of "political anthems" and being prohibited from going to the religious site or practicing Ramadan.

China says it is tackling extremism through 'controlling illegal religious activities' and 'training centers', but other countries, including the US, say its actions constitute ethnic cleansing. Zeynure says she never felt able to practice her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "People who went on pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were arrested and sent to prison and told they must have some problem in their brain.

"They aimed for Uyghur people to abandon their religion and culture. They said 'you should believe in us, we provided you jobs and this good life here'," says Zeynure.

She finally 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 connected to Idris by one of her school friends. "She knew we both had taken the decision to go abroad and told us maybe we could get together and go together."

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

A New Life in Turkey

Within two months they were wed and ready to leave for a different existence in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many believers and Uyghurs already residing there, with a similar language and shared background. "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 disappear," she says.

But their relief at finding a place of safety overseas was temporary. Beijing has become a prominent force in targeting critics abroad through the use of electronic surveillance, intimidation and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent method of control: using China's increasing economic leverage to force other countries to yield to its will, including detaining and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Campaigning for Release

After the phone call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol red notice against him, Zeynure knew she only had a limited time of chance to try to stop his extradition to China. She immediately reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find listed on the internet in Europe and the US and pleaded for assistance. She was brave despite China having already shown a willingness to target the family members of other individuals.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and sharing updates on online platforms. To her amazement, copycat protests soon followed in Morocco calling for Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were compelled to put out a statement saying his deportation 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 ruling he should still be extradited to China. Zeynure says there was significant political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|