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In the summer of 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her residence in Turkey's largest city when she answered a desperately anticipated phone call from her husband. It had been four painful days since their last contact, when he was preparing to board a flight to Morocco. The silence had been difficult.

But the news her husband Idris shared was even worse. He explained that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been taken into custody and jailed. Authorities told him he would be sent back to China. "Call anyone who can assist me," he urged, before the line went dead.

Existence as Ethnic Minority in Exile

Zeynure, in her early thirties, and Idris, in his late thirties, are members of the Uyghur community, which makes up about 50% of the residents in China's western Xinjiang region. Over the last ten years, over a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are reported to have been imprisoned in alleged "vocational training camps," where they faced torture for commonplace acts like attending a mosque or wearing a hijab.

The couple had been among many of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the 2010s. They believed they would find security in exile, but quickly found they were mistaken.

"Authorities informed me that the Beijing officials warned to shut down all its industrial plants in the country if Morocco released him," Zeynure said.

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an English teacher, while Idris began as a interpreter and designer, assisting to produce Uyghur media and printed works. They had three children and enjoyed able to practice as followers of Islam.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who was employed in a book repository stocking Uyghur books, was arrested in the summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. News indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his prior arrest, which he believed was linked to his work with activists and supporting Uyghur culture. He chose to escape to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had lapsed, had to stay behind with the children until her husband could apply for a visa for the family.

A Terrible Mistake

Departing Turkey proved to be a disastrous mistake. At the airport, immigration officials pulled him aside for interrogation. "When he was eventually allowed to get on the plane, he told me how relieved he was that they had released him, but it felt like a set-up to me," she recalled. 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 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 take the flight knowing he would be arrested upon landing in Morocco.

What happened next would convince her to do what many Uyghurs dread most: defy China, despite the risks.

Parental Pressure

Soon after hearing of her husband's arrest, Zeynure got an surprising phone call from her family in Xinjiang. She had been separated from her family since they came to see her in Turkey in 2016 and were jailed for a few months upon their return to China.

Her parents had a disturbing message. "They said, 'We know your husband is not with you. Maybe we can assist you,'" she 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. 'Avoid doing anything except caring for your children,' they told me. 'Avoid saying anything negative about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at stake, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to stay quiet. She had been raised witnessing women having their head coverings forcibly removed in open by the police and had been resolved to live in a country with religious freedom.

"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 these platforms. But I had to do something to save my husband – I had to tell the truth to the international community. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be tortured or die. They forced me to speak out."

Childhood in Xinjiang

Zeynure has two distinct types of memories of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the countryside with her elders, who were farmers. "I'd play with the animals and chickens. 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 picture from a book."

The second was as a Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, of school holidays cut short by mandatory teachings of "communist songs" and being prohibited from going to the religious site or practicing Ramadan.

China claims it is tackling radicalism through 'controlling unauthorized religious activities' and 'vocational education facilities', but other countries, including the US, say its actions constitute ethnic cleansing. Zeynure says she never felt able to follow her faith in Xinjiang. "People who went on religious journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were arrested and sent to jail and told they must have some issue in their brain.

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

She finally decided to leave China after returning home from university 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 taken the decision to go overseas and told us maybe we could meet and go together."

Zeynure says she was immediately comforted by Idris. "I realized he was very honest and reserved, and couldn't tell lies or do anything bad. There were some Uyghur boys 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 new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already living there, with a comparable tongue and shared background. "It was like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a teacher and creative, they could also help the community in exile. "There are many children now in China growing up without Uyghur traditions or language so we think it's our responsibility 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 prominent force in pursuing dissidents abroad through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was faced was a newer tool of repression: using China's growing economic leverage to force other countries to bend to its demands, including detaining and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to silence.

Fighting for Freedom

After the phone call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol red notice against him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of opportunity to try to prevent his deportation to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find advertised online in Europe and the US and begged for help. She was brave despite China having already shown a readiness to target the family members of other individuals.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the Moroccan embassy in Istanbul, and posting information on social media. To her surprise, similar protests soon followed in Morocco calling for Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were forced to put out a statement saying his extradition was a matter for the judicial system to decide.

In the start of August 2021, Interpol withdrew 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 significant political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|