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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 preparing to take a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been difficult.

But the information her husband Idris revealed was more devastating. He informed her that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been taken into custody and imprisoned. Authorities told him he would be deported to China. "Reach out to everyone who can help me," he pleaded, before the line went silent.

Existence as Uyghurs in Exile

Zeynure, in her early thirties, and Idris, in his late thirties, are members of the mostly Muslim community, which constitutes about 50% of the residents in China's north-western Xinjiang region. Over the last ten years, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are believed to have been detained in alleged "re-education camps," where they faced mistreatment for ordinary acts like going to a place of worship or using a headscarf.

The pair had been among many of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the previous decade. They hoped they would find refuge in exile, but quickly found they were mistaken.

"Authorities informed me that the Beijing officials threatened to close all its factories in the nation if Morocco released him," Zeynure said.

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an language instructor, while Idris began as a translator and designer, helping to publish Uyghur media and publications. They had a family of three kids and felt able to practice as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who worked in a library containing Uyghur books, was arrested in the summer of 2021, Idris panicked. News indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his previous detention, which he suspected was linked to his work with activists 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 Error

Departing Turkey turned out to be a terrible mistake. At the Istanbul airport, border control 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 said. Her worst fears were realized when he was taken off the plane and arrested by Moroccan authorities.

Over the last ten years, China has been using the international police agency Interpol to target political refugees and had requested for Idris to be added on the agency's most-wanted "red notice list." Zeynure says Turkish officials allowed him board 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 consequences.

Family Interference

Soon after hearing of her husband's detention, Zeynure got an surprising phone call from her family in Xinjiang. She had been separated from her relatives since they visited her in Turkey in 2016 and were imprisoned for several months upon their going back to China.

Her parents had a disturbing message. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can help you,'" Zeynure explained. "I knew there must be some authorities 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 feeding your children,' they told me. 'Avoid saying anything bad about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at stake, the quiet-mannered Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had grown up witnessing women having their hijabs ripped off in open by the police 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 tell the reality to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be abused or die. They pushed 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 rural areas 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 land. It was too beautiful, like a scene from a book."

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

China says it is tackling extremism through 'managing illegal religious activities' and 'vocational education facilities', but other nations, including the US, say its actions amount to ethnic cleansing. Zeynure says she never felt able to follow her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "Individuals who went on religious journey to Mecca abroad were arrested and transferred to jail and told they must have some issue in their brain.

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

She finally decided to depart China after coming back home from college in Eastern China to a growing repression on religious freedoms 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 decision to go abroad and told us maybe we could get together and go together."

Zeynure says she was right away comforted by Idris. "I saw he was very honest and shy, and couldn't be dishonest or do anything bad. There were some Uyghur men at university who wanted to marry me, but Idris was unique."

A New Life in Turkey

Within two months they were wed and ready to move for a new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many believers and Uyghurs already residing there, with a similar tongue and shared background. "It was like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a educator and creative, they could also support the community 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 die out," she says.

But their sense of safety at locating a secure location abroad was short-lived. Beijing has become a prominent force in targeting dissidents abroad through the use of monitoring, intimidation and physical assault. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent tool of repression: using China's increasing economic leverage to force other countries to yield to its will, including detaining and deporting Uyghurs it wants to silence.

Campaigning for Release

After the call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol red notice against him, Zeynure knew she only had a limited time of opportunity to try to stop his deportation to China. She immediately reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find advertised online in Europe and the US and pleaded for help. She was brave despite China having already demonstrated a readiness to target the relatives of other targets.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the Moroccan embassy in Istanbul, and posting updates on online platforms. To her amazement, copycat protests soon followed in Morocco calling for Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were compelled to put out a announcement saying his extradition was a issue for the courts to determine.

In the start of August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's red notice after being pressed to reexamine his case by human rights groups. 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|