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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 got a long-awaited phone call from her husband. There had been four agonizing days since their last contact, when he was preparing to board a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been unbearable.

But the news her husband Idris shared was even worse. He explained that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities told him he would be extradited to China. "Call anyone who can assist me," he pleaded, before the line went silent.

Life as Ethnic Minority in Turkey

The wife, in her early thirties, and Idris, in his late thirties, are part of the Uyghur community, which makes up about 50% of the residents in China's north-western Xinjiang region. Over the past decade, more than a million Uyghurs are believed to have been detained in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced abuse for commonplace actions like going to a place of worship or using a headscarf.

The pair had been among thousands of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the 2010s. They hoped they would find refuge in exile, but quickly found they were wrong.

"I was told that the Chinese government 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 artist, helping to publish Uyghur media and publications. They had three children and felt able to live as followers of Islam.

But when one of Idris's close friends, who was employed in a library containing Uyghur books, was detained in the mid-year of 2021, Idris became fearful. News indicated that Beijing was urging Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his prior detention, which he suspected was linked to his work with advocates and promoting 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 travel document for the whole family.

A Costly Mistake

Departing Turkey turned out to be a disastrous mistake. At the airport, immigration officials took Idris aside for interrogation. "When he was eventually permitted to get on 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 worst fears were confirmed when he was taken off the plane and arrested by border officials.

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

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

Family Pressure

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

Her parents had a chilling message. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can assist you,'" Zeynure stated. "I realized 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 caring for your children,' they told me. 'Don't say anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's life at risk, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had grown up witnessing women having their hijabs ripped off 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 looking after my family; I didn't even have social media or Twitter. But I had to do something to save my husband – I had to reveal the reality to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be abused or killed. They pushed me to speak out."

Childhood in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of recollections of her early years 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 sheep and chickens. I don't know if I will ever have that kind of chance again. The relatives around the house and farm. It was too wonderful, like a picture from a story."

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

China claims it is tackling extremism through 'managing illegal religious activities' and 'training facilities', but other countries, including the US, say its actions constitute genocide. Zeynure says she never felt free to follow 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 brain.

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

She finally decided to depart 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 school friends. "She was aware we both had made the choice to go abroad and told us maybe we could get together and go as a group."

Zeynure says she was immediately reassured by Idris. "I realized he was very honest and shy, and couldn't tell lies or do anything wrong. There were some Uyghur men at university who wanted to wed me, but Idris was unique."

A New Life in Turkey

Within two months they were wed and prepared to move 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 tongue and common background. "It felt like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a teacher and designer, they could also help the community in diaspora. "We have many kids now in China growing up without Uyghur traditions or dialect so we think it's our responsibility to not let it disappear," she says.

But their sense of safety at locating a place of safety overseas was short-lived. Beijing has become a prominent force in pursuing dissidents abroad through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a newer method of repression: using China's increasing financial influence to pressure other countries to yield to its demands, including arresting and deporting Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting for Release

After the phone call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol red notice against him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of chance to try to prevent his deportation to China. She immediately contacted as many Uyghur support groups as she could find advertised online in the EU and the US and pleaded for assistance. She was fearless despite China having already demonstrated a readiness to go after the relatives of other targets.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting information on online platforms. To her surprise, similar protests soon occurred in Morocco calling for Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were compelled to issue a statement saying his extradition was a issue for the judicial system to determine.

In early August 2021, Interpol cancelled Idris's alert after being urged to reexamine his case by human rights groups. But that did not stop a Moroccan court later deciding he should still be extradited to China. Zeynure says there was huge diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|