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In July 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her residence in Istanbul when she received a long-awaited phone call from her husband. There had been four painful days since their last contact, when he was getting ready to board a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been torturous.

But the information her husband Idris shared was even worse. He told her that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities informed him he would be deported to China. "Reach out to everyone who can rescue me," he said, before the line went silent.

Life as Uyghurs in Exile

Zeynure, in her early thirties, and Idris, in his late thirties, are members of the mostly Muslim ethnic group, which makes up about half of the residents in China's western Xinjiang province. Over the last ten years, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are believed to have been imprisoned in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced torture for commonplace acts like attending a place of worship or using a hijab.

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

"I was told that the Beijing officials warned to close all its factories in the nation if Morocco released him," Zeynure explained.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an language instructor, while Idris began as a interpreter and artist, helping to publish Uyghur media 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 stocking Uyghur books, was detained in the mid-year of 2021, Idris panicked. News indicated that Beijing was urging Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his previous arrest, which he believed was connected to his work with advocates and promoting 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 apply for a travel document for the whole family.

A Costly Mistake

Departing Turkey proved to be a terrible decision. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials took Idris aside for interrogation. "When he was finally permitted to get on 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 deepest concerns were confirmed when he was taken off the plane and detained by Moroccan authorities.

Over the past decade, China has been utilizing the global police agency Interpol to target political refugees and had asked 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 landing in Morocco.

What happened next would lead her to do what many Uyghurs fear most: defy China, regardless of the risks.

Family Pressure

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

Her parents had a chilling warning. "They said, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can help you,'" she explained. "I knew there must be some police 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 caring for your children,' they told me. 'Avoid saying anything negative about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at stake, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had been raised 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 Twitter. 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 abused or die. They forced me to raise my voice."

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 rural areas with her grandparents, who were farmers. "I'd play with the sheep and poultry. I don't know if I will ever have that type of opportunity again. The family around the house and farm. It was too wonderful, like a picture from a story."

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

China claims it is tackling extremism through 'controlling unauthorized religious activities' and 'vocational education facilities', but other countries, including the US, say its actions constitute ethnic cleansing. Zeynure says she never felt able to follow her faith in Xinjiang. "People who went on religious journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were arrested and sent to jail and told they must have some issue in their mind.

"They wanted Uyghur people to forget their faith and heritage. They said 'you should trust in us, we gave you employment and this good living here'," says Zeynure.

She finally decided to leave China after coming back home from university in Eastern China to a increasing crackdown on beliefs in 2011. It was then that she was introduced to Idris by one of her school friends. "She was aware we both had taken the decision to go abroad and told us maybe we could get together and go together."

Zeynure says she was immediately 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 different."

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within 60 days they were wed and prepared to move 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 educator and creative, they could also help the community in exile. "We have many kids now in China being raised without Uyghur culture or language so we think it's our duty to not let it die out," she says.

But their relief at finding a secure location abroad was short-lived. Beijing has become a global leader in targeting critics living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a newer tool of repression: using China's increasing financial influence to force other countries to bend to its will, including arresting and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Campaigning for Freedom

After the phone call from Idris, and learning he had an Interpol red notice against him, Zeynure knew she only had a short window of chance to try to stop his deportation to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find listed online in the EU and the US and pleaded for help. She was brave despite China having already shown a readiness to go after the relatives of other targets.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the Moroccan embassy in Istanbul, and sharing information on social media. To her surprise, similar protests soon occurred in Morocco calling for Idris's freedom. Moroccan officials were forced to put out a announcement saying his deportation was a issue for the courts to decide.

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