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In the summer of 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her residence in Istanbul when she answered a desperately anticipated phone call from her husband. There had been four painful days since their last contact, when he was getting ready to board a flight to Morocco. The lack of communication had been difficult.

But the news her husband Idris shared was more alarming. He informed her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities told him he would be sent back to China. "Call everyone who can rescue me," he pleaded, before the line went dead.

Life as Ethnic Minority in Exile

Zeynure, 31 years old, and Idris, 37, are part of the mostly Muslim community, which makes up about 50% of the residents in China's north-western Xinjiang province. Over the past decade, over a million Uyghurs are estimated to have been imprisoned in alleged "re-education camps," where they faced abuse for commonplace actions like going to a mosque or using a hijab.

The pair had been among many of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the previous decade. They believed they would find safety in their new home, but quickly found they were wrong.

"Authorities informed me that the Chinese government threatened to shut down all its factories in the nation if Morocco freed him," Zeynure explained.

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure became an English teacher, while Idris started as a translator and designer, helping to produce Uyghur news and printed works. They had a family of three kids and enjoyed able to practice as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who was employed in a library stocking Uyghur books, was detained in the mid-year of 2021, Idris panicked. News indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his previous arrest, which he suspected was linked to his work with advocates and supporting Uyghur culture. He chose to flee 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

Leaving Turkey proved to be a terrible decision. At the airport, immigration officials pulled him aside for questioning. "When he was finally allowed to board 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 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 target dissidents and had asked for Idris to be added on the agency's high-priority "red notice list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials allowed him board the flight aware he would be apprehended upon landing in Morocco.

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

Parental Pressure

Shortly after hearing of her husband's detention, Zeynure received an unexpected phone call from her family in Xinjiang. She had been cut off from her family since they visited her in Turkey in 2016 and were imprisoned for several months upon their return to China.

Her parents had a chilling message. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Maybe we can help you,'" she explained. "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 feeding your children,' they told me. 'Don't say anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's life at stake, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to stay quiet. She had grown up seeing women having their head coverings ripped off in public by the police and had been resolved 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 Facebook 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 abused or killed. They forced me to speak out."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of memories of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the rural areas with her grandparents, who were farmers. "I used to play with the animals and poultry. I don't know if I will ever have that type of opportunity again. The relatives around the house and farm. It was too beautiful, like a picture from a book."

The second was as a Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, of school holidays interrupted by mandatory teachings of "political anthems" and being banned from going to the religious site or practicing Ramadan.

China claims it is addressing radicalism through 'controlling unauthorized religious activities' and 'vocational education facilities', but other nations, including the US, say its actions constitute genocide. Zeynure says she never felt able to practice her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "People who went on religious journey to Mecca abroad were arrested 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 trust 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 repression on beliefs in 2011. It was then that she was introduced to Idris by one of her classmates. "She was aware we both had made the choice to go overseas and told us maybe we could get together and go as a group."

Zeynure says she was right away reassured by Idris. "I saw 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."

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within 60 days they were wed and prepared to leave for a new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Islamic country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already residing there, with a similar tongue and common ethnicity. "It was like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a teacher and designer, they could also support the Uyghur population in exile. "We have many kids now in China growing up without Uyghur culture or language so we think it's our duty to not let it disappear," she says.

But their relief at finding a place of safety overseas was short-lived. Beijing has become a prominent force in targeting critics living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and physical assault. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent tool of repression: using China's growing financial influence to pressure other nations to bend to its will, including detaining and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Campaigning for Freedom

After the call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol alert hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a limited time of chance to try to stop his deportation to China. She immediately contacted as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find advertised online in the EU and the US and pleaded for help. She was fearless despite China having already shown a readiness to go after the family members of other targets.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting updates on online platforms. To her surprise, similar protests soon occurred in Morocco calling for Idris's release. Moroccan officials were compelled to put out a statement saying his deportation was a matter for the courts to decide.

In the start of August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's alert after being urged to reexamine his case by advocacy organizations. But that did not stop a Moroccan court later deciding he should still be sent back to China. Zeynure says there was significant diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|