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In July 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her home in Turkey's largest city when she received a desperately anticipated 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 silence had been unbearable.

But the information her husband Idris delivered was even worse. He informed her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities stated he would be deported to China. "Reach out to everyone who can help me," he said, before the line went dead.

Life as Ethnic Minority in Exile

Zeynure, in her early thirties, 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 detained in alleged "vocational training camps," where they faced torture for ordinary actions like attending a mosque or wearing a hijab.

The pair had been among thousands of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the 2010s. They hoped they would find security in their new home, but soon realized they were wrong.

"Authorities informed me that the Beijing officials warned to shut down all its industrial plants in the country if Morocco released him," Zeynure said.

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure became an English teacher, while Idris began as a translator and artist, helping to produce Uyghur news and publications. They had three children and enjoyed able to practice as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's close friends, who was employed in a library containing Uyghur books, was arrested in the summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. News indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his prior arrest, which he suspected was connected 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 request a visa for the family.

A Terrible Error

Departing Turkey turned out to be a terrible mistake. At the airport, immigration officials took Idris aside for interrogation. "When he was eventually permitted 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 said. Her worst fears were confirmed when he was removed from the plane and arrested by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been using the international police agency Interpol to target dissidents and had requested for Idris to be added on the agency's high-priority "red notice 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 fear most: defy China, despite the risks.

Parental Pressure

Shortly after learning of her husband's detention, Zeynure received an surprising 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 warning. "They said, 'We know your husband is not with you. Maybe we can help you,'" Zeynure stated. "I knew there must be some authorities there with them and just pretended like I didn't know anything. But they persisted and told me not to do anything to help my husband. 'Don't do anything except feeding your children,' they told me. 'Don't say anything negative about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at risk, the quiet-mannered Zeynure was not going to stay quiet. She had been raised seeing women having their head coverings forcibly removed in public by the authorities 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 truth to the world. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be tortured or killed. They pushed me to speak out."

Childhood in Xinjiang

Zeynure has two distinct types of recollections of her early years in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the countryside with her grandparents, who were agricultural workers. "I used to play with the animals and poultry. I don't know if I will ever have that kind of chance again. The family around the house and land. It was too wonderful, like a picture from a book."

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

China says it is addressing radicalism through 'controlling illegal religious activities' and 'vocational education centers', but other nations, including the US, say its actions amount to genocide. Zeynure says she never felt able to practice her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "Individuals who went on pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were arrested and sent to prison and told they must have some issue in their brain.

"They wanted Uyghur people to abandon their faith and culture. They said 'you should believe in us, we gave you jobs and this beautiful life here'," says Zeynure.

She finally decided to depart China after coming back home from college in Eastern China to a increasing crackdown on religious freedoms in 2011. It was then that she was connected to Idris by one of her school friends. "She knew we both had taken the choice to go overseas 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 shy, and couldn't tell lies or do anything bad. There were some Uyghur men at university who wanted to wed me, but Idris was different."

A New Life in Turkey

Within 60 days they were wed and ready to leave for a new life in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many believers and Uyghurs already living there, with a similar language and shared ethnicity. "It was like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a teacher and creative, they could also help the community in diaspora. "We have many children now in China growing up without Uyghur traditions or language so we think it's our responsibility to not let it disappear," she says.

But their relief at locating a place of safety abroad was temporary. Beijing has become a global leader in pursuing critics living in exile through the use of monitoring, intimidation and violence. But what Idris was faced was a newer method of repression: using China's increasing financial influence to pressure other countries to yield to its demands, including arresting and deporting Uyghurs it wants to silence.

Fighting for Release

After the call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol red notice hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a limited time of chance to try to prevent his deportation to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur support groups as she could find advertised online in the EU and the US and pleaded for assistance. She was fearless despite China having already shown a readiness to target the relatives of other targets.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and sharing information on online platforms. To her surprise, similar protests soon occurred in Morocco demanding Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were compelled to put out a announcement saying his deportation was a matter for the judicial system to decide.

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