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In the summer of 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her residence in Turkey's largest city when she answered a long-awaited phone call from her husband. It had been four agonizing days since their last contact, when he was preparing to board a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been unbearable.

But the news her husband Idris delivered was even worse. He told her that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been detained and jailed. Authorities stated he would be deported to China. "Reach out to anyone who can rescue me," he urged, before the line went dead.

Existence as Uyghurs in Turkey

Zeynure, 31 years old, and Idris, in his late thirties, are members of the mostly Muslim community, which constitutes about 50% of the residents in China's western Xinjiang province. Over the last ten years, over a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are believed to have been detained in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced mistreatment for commonplace acts like attending a place of worship or using a hijab.

The couple had joined many of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the previous decade. They hoped they would find safety in exile, but soon discovered they were mistaken.

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

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure became an language instructor, while Idris began as a translator and artist, helping to publish Uyghur media and printed works. They had three children and enjoyed free to practice as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who worked in a library containing Uyghur books, was arrested in the mid-year of 2021, Idris panicked. News indicated that Beijing was urging Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt vulnerable due to his prior arrest, which he suspected was linked to his work with activists and promoting Uyghur culture. He decided to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had expired, had to stay behind with the children until her husband could request a visa for the whole family.

A Costly Mistake

Leaving Turkey turned out to be a disastrous decision. At the airport, border control officials took Idris aside for interrogation. "After he was eventually permitted to board the plane, he told me how happy he was that they had let him go, but it felt like a trap to me," Zeynure said. Her worst fears were realized when he was taken off the plane and detained by border officials.

Over the last ten years, China has been using the international police agency Interpol to target political refugees and had asked for Idris to be placed on the agency's high-priority "red notice list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials let him board the flight aware he would be apprehended upon landing in Morocco.

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

Family Interference

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

Her parents had a chilling 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 acted 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 witnessing women having their head coverings ripped off in public by the authorities and had been resolved 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 save my husband – I had to reveal the truth to the international community. Everyone knows Uyghurs sent to China will be tortured or killed. They forced me to speak out."

Childhood in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of recollections of her early years in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the rural areas with her grandparents, who were agricultural workers. "I used to play with the sheep and poultry. I don't know if I will ever have that type of chance again. The family around the house and land. It was too beautiful, like a picture from a story."

The second was as a religious minority in Xinjiang, of school holidays cut short by forced teachings of "political anthems" and being prohibited from going to the religious site or observing Ramadan.

China claims it is tackling extremism through 'controlling illegal religious activities' and 'training centers', but other nations, including the US, say its actions constitute ethnic cleansing. Zeynure says she never felt free to practice her religious beliefs 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 mind.

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

She eventually decided to depart 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 school friends. "She knew we both had made the decision to go abroad and told us perhaps we could get together 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 wrong. There were some Uyghur men at university who wanted to wed me, but Idris was unique."

A New Life in Turkey

Within 60 days they were married and ready to leave for a different existence in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already living there, with a similar language and shared ethnicity. "It felt like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a teacher and designer, they could also support the Uyghur population in diaspora. "We have many kids now in China growing up without Uyghur traditions or language so we think it's our responsibility to not let it die out," she says.

But their relief 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, threats and physical assault. But what Idris was faced was a newer method of control: using China's increasing financial influence to force other countries to yield to its demands, including detaining and deporting Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Fighting for Release

After the phone call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol alert hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of chance to try to prevent his extradition to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find advertised on the internet in Europe and the US and begged for assistance. She was fearless despite China having already shown a willingness to go after the relatives of other targets.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting updates on online platforms. To her surprise, copycat protests soon occurred in Morocco calling for Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were compelled to put out a announcement saying his extradition was a matter for the judicial system to decide.

In early August 2021, Interpol cancelled 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 diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|