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In the summer of 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her home in Istanbul when she answered a long-awaited phone call from her husband. It had been four stressful days since their last communication, when he was preparing to take a flight to Morocco. The lack of communication had been difficult.

But the news her husband Idris revealed was more devastating. He explained that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been detained and jailed. Authorities stated he would be sent back to China. "Contact everyone who can help me," he pleaded, before the line went silent.

Existence as Uyghurs in Turkey

The wife, 31 years old, and Idris, in his late thirties, are part of the mostly Muslim ethnic group, which makes up about half of the residents in China's north-western Xinjiang province. Over the past decade, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are believed to have been imprisoned in so-called "vocational training camps," where they faced abuse for ordinary actions like going to a place of worship or wearing a headscarf.

The couple had joined thousands of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the previous decade. They thought they would find safety in their new home, but soon found they were wrong.

"I was told that the Chinese government warned to close all its industrial plants in the nation if Morocco released him," Zeynure explained.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an language instructor, while Idris started as a translator and artist, helping to publish Uyghur media and printed works. 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 book repository containing Uyghur books, was arrested in the mid-year of 2021, Idris panicked. News indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his previous detention, which he suspected was linked to his work with advocates and promoting Uyghur heritage. He decided to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had lapsed, had to stay behind with the children until her husband could request a visa for the whole family.

A Costly Error

Leaving Turkey proved to be a disastrous decision. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials pulled him aside for interrogation. "After he was finally permitted to get on the plane, he told me how relieved he was that they had let him go, but it felt like a trap to me," she said. Her deepest concerns were realized when he was removed from the plane and detained by Moroccan authorities.

Over the last ten years, China has been using the international police agency Interpol to pursue dissidents and had asked for Idris to be added on the agency's most-wanted "red notice list." Zeynure says Turkish officials allowed him take the flight aware he would be arrested upon arrival in Morocco.

What happened next would lead her to do what many Uyghurs dread most: challenge China, despite the consequences.

Family Pressure

Shortly after hearing of her husband's arrest, Zeynure got an unexpected phone call from her family in Xinjiang. She had been cut off from her relatives since they came to see her in Turkey in 2016 and were jailed for several 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 help you,'" she 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 bad about China.'"

But with her husband's life at risk, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had grown up seeing women having their head coverings ripped off in public by the police and had been determined to live in a country with religious freedom.

"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 these platforms. But I had to do something to rescue my husband – I had to tell the reality to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be tortured or killed. They forced me to speak out."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of memories of her early years in Xinjiang. The first was of happy days spent in the countryside with her elders, who were farmers. "I'd play with the animals and chickens. I don't know if I will ever have that type of chance again. The family around the home and land. It was too wonderful, like a scene from a story."

The second was as a Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, of school holidays interrupted by mandatory teachings of "communist songs" and being prohibited from going to the mosque or observing Ramadan.

China claims it is tackling extremism through 'managing illegal religious activities' and 'training facilities', but other countries, including the US, say its actions constitute genocide. Zeynure says she never felt able to practice her faith 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 forget their religion and culture. They said 'you should believe in us, we provided you jobs and this good living here'," says Zeynure.

She finally decided to leave China after returning home from college in another part of China to a increasing repression on beliefs in 2011. It was then that she was connected to Idris by one of her classmates. "She was aware we both had made the decision to go abroad and told us perhaps we could meet and go as a group."

Zeynure says she was immediately reassured by Idris. "I realized he was very honest and reserved, and couldn't be dishonest or do anything bad. There were some Uyghur boys at university who wanted to marry me, but Idris was unique."

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within 60 days they were married and prepared to move for a different existence in Turkey. They knew it was an Islamic 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 community in diaspora. "There are many children now in China growing up without Uyghur traditions or dialect so we think it's our responsibility to not let it disappear," she says.

But their sense of safety at locating a place of safety overseas was short-lived. Beijing has become a global leader in pursuing critics abroad through the use of electronic surveillance, intimidation and violence. But what Idris was faced was a more recent tool of repression: using China's increasing financial influence to pressure other countries to bend to its will, including detaining and deporting Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting for Freedom

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 prevent his extradition to China. She immediately reached out to as many Uyghur support groups as she could find advertised on the internet in Europe and the US and begged for assistance. She was brave despite China having already demonstrated a willingness to go after the relatives of other targets.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the Moroccan embassy in Istanbul, and sharing updates on online platforms. To her amazement, copycat protests soon occurred in Morocco demanding Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were forced to put out a statement saying his extradition was a matter for the judicial system to determine.

In early August 2021, Interpol cancelled Idris's alert after being pressed to review his case by advocacy organizations. But that did not prevent a Moroccan court later ruling he should still be extradited to China. Zeynure says there was huge political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|