🔗 Share this article

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

But the information her husband Idris shared was more alarming. He explained that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been detained and jailed. Authorities informed him he would be extradited to China. "Contact anyone who can help me," he said, before the line went silent.

Life as Uyghurs in Turkey

The wife, 31 years old, and Idris, in his late thirties, are members of the Uyghur ethnic group, which constitutes about 50% of the population in China's north-western Xinjiang region. Over the last ten years, more than a million Uyghurs are estimated to have been detained in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced torture for commonplace acts like going to a mosque or wearing a headscarf.

The couple had joined thousands of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the 2010s. They thought they would find security in their new home, but quickly found they were wrong.

"I was told that the Chinese government threatened to close all its factories in the nation if Morocco freed him," she explained.

After moving in Istanbul, Zeynure became an language instructor, while Idris started as a interpreter and artist, assisting to produce Uyghur media and printed works. They had three children and enjoyed able to live as followers of Islam.

But when one of Idris's close friends, who was employed in a library containing Uyghur books, was detained in the summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. News indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his previous detention, which he believed was connected to his work with advocates and supporting Uyghur heritage. He decided to flee to Morocco, but Zeynure, whose Chinese passport had expired, had to remain with the children until her husband could request a travel document for the family.

A Costly Error

Departing Turkey proved to be a disastrous decision. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials took Idris aside for interrogation. "After he was eventually 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," Zeynure recalled. Her worst fears were confirmed when he was taken off the plane and arrested by Moroccan authorities.

Over the past decade, China has been utilizing the international police agency Interpol to pursue political refugees and had asked for Idris to be added on the agency's high-priority "alert list." Zeynure claims Turkish officials allowed him board the flight knowing he would be arrested upon arrival in Morocco.

What happened next would convince her to do what many Uyghurs dread most: challenge China, regardless of the consequences.

Parental Pressure

Soon after learning of her husband's arrest, Zeynure got an surprising phone call from her parents in Xinjiang. She had been cut off from her family since they visited her in Turkey in 2016 and were imprisoned for a few months upon their going back to China.

Her parents had a chilling message. "They told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can assist you,'" Zeynure explained. "I realized there must be some police 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 negative about China.'"

But with her husband's safety at risk, the softly spoken Zeynure was not going to stay quiet. She had grown up witnessing women having their hijabs forcibly removed in open by the police 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 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 killed. They pushed me to speak out."

Childhood in Xinjiang

Zeynure has two distinct types of recollections of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the countryside with her elders, who were agricultural workers. "I'd play with the sheep and poultry. 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 religious minority in Xinjiang, of vacations cut short by forced teachings of "political anthems" and being prohibited from going to the mosque or observing Ramadan.

China says it is addressing radicalism through 'controlling 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. "Individuals who went on religious journey to Mecca abroad were arrested and sent to jail and told they must have some problem in their brain.

"They aimed for Uyghur people to forget their faith and heritage. They said 'you should trust in us, we gave you jobs and this good life here'," says Zeynure.

She eventually decided to depart China after returning home from college in another part of China to a growing crackdown on religious freedoms in 2011. It was then that she was introduced to Idris by one of her classmates. "She knew we both had taken the decision to go overseas and told us maybe we could meet and go together."

Zeynure says she was right away comforted by Idris. "I realized he was very truthful and reserved, and couldn't tell lies or do anything wrong. There were some Uyghur boys at university who wanted to wed me, but Idris was different."

Fresh Start 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 comparable tongue and common background. "It felt like Uyghurs' alternative homeland," says Zeynure. As a teacher and designer, they could also help the community in diaspora. "There are many kids now in China growing up without Uyghur traditions 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 prominent force in pursuing critics living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, intimidation and physical assault. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent 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 silence.

Fighting for Freedom

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 opportunity to try to prevent his deportation to China. She right away reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find listed on the internet in the EU and the US and pleaded for assistance. She was brave despite China having already shown a readiness to target the family members of other targets.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting information on online platforms. To her amazement, copycat protests soon followed in Morocco demanding Idris's release. Moroccan officials were compelled to issue a statement saying his deportation was a issue for the judicial system to decide.

In the start of August 2021, Interpol cancelled Idris's alert after being urged to review his case by human rights groups. But that did not stop a Moroccan court later deciding he should still be extradited to China. Zeynure says there was huge diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|