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In July 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her residence in Turkey's largest city when she answered a long-awaited phone call from her husband. There had been four painful days since their last contact, when he was preparing to take a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been unbearable.

But the update her husband Idris delivered was even worse. He informed her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been arrested and jailed. Authorities informed him he would be deported to China. "Contact anyone who can rescue me," he urged, before the line went dead.

Life as Ethnic Minority in Exile

The wife, 31 years old, and Idris, 37, are part of the mostly Muslim community, which constitutes about 50% of the residents in China's western Xinjiang province. Over the past decade, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are reported to have been detained in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced mistreatment for ordinary actions like attending a place of worship or wearing a hijab.

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

"I was told that the Beijing officials threatened to close all its industrial plants in the nation if Morocco freed him," Zeynure said.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure became an English teacher, while Idris began as a translator and artist, helping to publish Uyghur news and publications. They had a family of three kids and felt able to live 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 urging Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his prior detention, which he suspected was linked to his work with advocates and supporting Uyghur culture. He decided to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had lapsed, had to remain with the children until her husband could request a travel document for the family.

A Terrible Mistake

Leaving Turkey proved to be a disastrous mistake. At the Istanbul airport, immigration officials pulled him aside for questioning. "After he was eventually allowed to board the plane, he told me how happy he was that they had released him, but it felt like a trap to me," Zeynure recalled. Her worst fears were realized when he was taken off the plane and detained by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been utilizing the international police agency Interpol to pursue political refugees and had requested for Idris to be placed on the agency's high-priority "alert list." Zeynure says Turkish officials allowed him take the flight knowing he would be apprehended upon arrival in Morocco.

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

Parental Interference

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

Her parents had a disturbing warning. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can assist you,'" Zeynure explained. "I realized there must be some authorities there with them and just pretended 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 softly spoken Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had grown up witnessing women having their hijabs forcibly removed in open by the authorities and had been determined 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 these platforms. But I had to do something to rescue my husband – I had to reveal the truth to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be abused or die. 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 elders, who were farmers. "I'd 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 farm. It was too wonderful, like a scene 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 banned from attending the mosque or practicing Ramadan.

China claims it is tackling radicalism through 'managing unauthorized religious activities' and 'training centers', but other countries, including the US, say its actions constitute ethnic cleansing. Zeynure says she never felt free to follow her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "People who went on religious journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were arrested and transferred to jail and told they must have some problem in their mind.

"They wanted Uyghur people to forget their religion and heritage. They said 'you should trust in us, we provided you jobs and this beautiful life here'," says Zeynure.

She eventually decided to leave China after coming back home from college in another part of China to a growing repression on religious freedoms in 2011. It was then that she was introduced to Idris by one of her school friends. "She knew we both had taken the choice to go abroad and told us perhaps we could meet and go together."

Zeynure says she was right away reassured by Idris. "I realized he was very truthful and reserved, and couldn't tell lies or do anything bad. There were some Uyghur men at university who wanted to marry me, but Idris was unique."

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within two months they were married and prepared to move for a new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already residing there, with a similar language and shared ethnicity. "It felt like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a educator and creative, they could also help the Uyghur population in exile. "There are many kids 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 temporary. Beijing has become a global leader in pursuing critics abroad through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent method of repression: using China's growing financial influence to force other nations to bend to its will, including detaining and deporting Uyghurs it wants to silence.

Campaigning for Release

After the phone call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol red notice hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of opportunity to try to stop his deportation to China. She immediately contacted as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find listed on the internet in Europe and the US and pleaded for assistance. She was brave despite China having already shown a readiness to target the family members of other individuals.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the Moroccan embassy 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 announcement saying his deportation was a matter for the courts to determine.

In the start of August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's red notice after being pressed to review his case by human rights groups. But that did not stop a Moroccan court later ruling he should still be sent back to China. Zeynure says there was huge political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|