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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 answered a desperately anticipated phone call from her husband. It had been four agonizing days since their last communication, when he was preparing to take a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been torturous.

But the information her husband Idris delivered was even worse. He informed her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been arrested and jailed. Authorities told him he would be sent back to China. "Call anyone who can help me," he said, before the line went silent.

Life as Uyghurs in Turkey

Zeynure, in her early thirties, and Idris, in his late thirties, are members of the Uyghur ethnic group, which makes up about 50% of the population in China's western Xinjiang region. Over the last ten years, over a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are reported to have been imprisoned in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced abuse for ordinary acts like going to a mosque or using a headscarf.

The pair had joined many of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the 2010s. They thought they would find refuge in their new home, but quickly realized they were mistaken.

"Authorities informed me that the Chinese government warned to shut down all its industrial plants in the country if Morocco released him," Zeynure explained.

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure became an English teacher, while Idris started as a interpreter and artist, helping to publish Uyghur media and printed works. They had a family of three kids and enjoyed free to live as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's close friends, who was employed in a library stocking Uyghur books, was arrested in the summer of 2021, Idris panicked. News indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his previous detention, which he believed was connected to his work with activists and promoting Uyghur culture. He decided to escape to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had expired, had to remain with the children until her husband could request a visa for the whole family.

A Terrible Mistake

Leaving Turkey proved to be a terrible decision. At the Istanbul airport, immigration officials pulled him aside for interrogation. "After 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 said. Her deepest concerns were confirmed when he was taken off the plane and arrested by Moroccan authorities.

Over the last ten years, China has been utilizing the global police agency Interpol to target dissidents and had requested for Idris to be placed on the agency's high-priority "alert list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials allowed him board the flight knowing he would be arrested upon arrival in Morocco.

What followed would convince her to do what many Uyghurs fear most: challenge China, despite the risks.

Family Interference

Shortly after hearing of her husband's arrest, Zeynure got an surprising phone call from her parents 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 going back to China.

Her parents had a disturbing message. "They said, 'We know your husband is not with you. Maybe we can assist you,'" Zeynure stated. "I knew 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 feeding your children,' they told me. 'Avoid saying anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's life at stake, the quiet-mannered Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had been raised 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 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 reveal the reality to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be tortured or killed. They forced me to speak out."

Childhood in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of recollections of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of happy days spent in the rural areas with her grandparents, who were agricultural workers. "I used to play with the sheep and chickens. I don't know if I will ever have that type of chance again. The relatives around the house and land. It was too wonderful, like a scene from a story."

The second was as a religious minority in Xinjiang, of school holidays interrupted by mandatory teachings of "communist songs" and being banned from attending the religious site or practicing Ramadan.

China claims it is addressing radicalism through 'controlling unauthorized religious activities' and 'vocational education centers', but other countries, including the US, say its actions amount to genocide. Zeynure says she never felt free to follow her faith in Xinjiang. "People who went on religious journey to Mecca abroad were detained and transferred to prison and told they must have some problem in their mind.

"They aimed for Uyghur people to forget their faith and culture. They said 'you should trust in us, we provided you employment and this good life here'," says Zeynure.

She eventually decided to depart China after coming back home from college in another part of China to a growing 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 taken the decision to go abroad and told us perhaps we could meet and go together."

Zeynure says she was immediately comforted by Idris. "I saw he was very honest and reserved, and couldn't tell lies or do anything wrong. There were some Uyghur boys at university who wanted to marry me, but Idris was different."

A New Life in Turkey

Within 60 days they were wed and ready to leave for a different existence in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already living there, with a comparable tongue and shared ethnicity. "It was like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a teacher and designer, they could also support the community in exile. "We have many children now in China growing up without Uyghur culture 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 place of safety abroad was short-lived. Beijing has become a prominent force in pursuing critics living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a newer tool of control: using China's growing economic leverage to force other nations to bend to its demands, including arresting and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting for Freedom

After the phone call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol alert hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of opportunity to try to prevent his extradition to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur support groups as she could find listed on the internet in Europe and the US and pleaded for help. She was brave despite China having already demonstrated a willingness to target the family members of other targets.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the Moroccan embassy in Istanbul, and sharing updates on online platforms. To her surprise, similar protests soon occurred in Morocco demanding Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were compelled to issue a announcement saying his extradition was a issue for the judicial system to decide.

In the start of August 2021, Interpol cancelled Idris's red notice after being urged to review his case by human rights groups. But that did not prevent a Moroccan court later deciding he should still be extradited to China. Zeynure says there was significant diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|