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In the summer of 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her residence in Turkey's largest city when she got a long-awaited phone call from her husband. It had been four stressful days since their last communication, when he was getting ready to take a flight to Morocco. The lack of communication had been torturous.

But the update her husband Idris delivered was more devastating. He told her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities told him he would be deported to China. "Reach out to everyone who can assist me," he said, before the line went silent.

Existence as Uyghurs in Exile

The wife, in her early thirties, and Idris, 37, are part of the mostly Muslim ethnic group, which constitutes about 50% of the population in China's north-western Xinjiang province. Over the past decade, over a million Uyghurs are reported to have been detained in alleged "re-education camps," where they faced mistreatment for commonplace actions like attending a mosque 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 their new home, but quickly realized they were wrong.

"Authorities informed me that the Chinese government warned to close all its industrial plants in the country if Morocco freed him," she explained.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure became an language instructor, while Idris began as a interpreter and artist, helping to produce Uyghur news and printed works. They had a family of three kids and enjoyed free to practice as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who worked in a library containing Uyghur books, was detained in the mid-year of 2021, Idris panicked. Reports indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his previous arrest, which he believed was connected to his work with advocates and promoting Uyghur culture. He decided to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had expired, had to stay behind with the children until her husband could apply for a travel document for the whole family.

A Terrible Mistake

Departing Turkey proved to be a terrible mistake. At the airport, immigration officials took Idris aside for questioning. "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 trap to me," Zeynure recalled. Her worst fears were confirmed when he was removed from the plane and detained by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been using the global police agency Interpol to pursue political refugees and had asked for Idris to be placed on the agency's high-priority "red notice list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials allowed him board the flight knowing he would be arrested upon landing in Morocco.

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

Family Pressure

Soon after learning of her husband's detention, Zeynure got an surprising 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 a few months upon their going back to China.

Her parents had a chilling warning. "They told me, '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 insisted 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 been raised witnessing women having their hijabs forcibly removed 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 social media or Twitter. But I had to do something to save my husband – I had to tell the truth to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be tortured or die. They forced me to raise my voice."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has two distinct types of recollections of her early years in Xinjiang. The first was of happy days spent in the countryside with her elders, who were farmers. "I used to play with the sheep and poultry. I don't know if I will ever have that type of chance again. The relatives around the home and farm. It was too beautiful, like a picture from a story."

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

China says it is addressing extremism through 'managing unauthorized religious activities' and 'vocational education centers', but other nations, 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 religious journey to Mecca abroad were detained and sent to jail and told they must have some problem in their brain.

"They aimed for Uyghur people to abandon their faith and heritage. They said 'you should believe in us, we gave you employment and this good life here'," says Zeynure.

She finally decided to depart China after returning home from college in Eastern China to a increasing repression 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 overseas and told us perhaps we could meet and go as a group."

Zeynure says she was right away reassured 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."

A New Life in Turkey

Within two months they were wed and ready 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 comparable language and common background. "It felt like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a educator and creative, they could also support the Uyghur population in exile. "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 sense of safety at finding a secure location overseas was temporary. Beijing has become a prominent force in targeting critics abroad through the use of monitoring, threats and violence. But what Idris was faced was a newer method of repression: using China's growing financial influence to force other nations to yield to its will, including arresting and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting for Freedom

After the call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol red notice hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of chance to try to stop his extradition to China. She immediately reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find advertised online in the EU and the US and begged for help. She was fearless despite China having already demonstrated a readiness to target the family members of other individuals.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the Moroccan embassy in Istanbul, and sharing information on social media. To her surprise, similar protests soon occurred in Morocco demanding Idris's release. Moroccan officials were forced to put out a announcement saying his extradition was a matter for the judicial system to determine.

In early August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's red notice after being urged to review 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 diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|