The Activist Who Challenged Chinese Authorities and Achieved Her Husband's Release

In July 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her home in Istanbul when she received a desperately anticipated phone call from her husband. There had been four agonizing days since their last communication, when he was preparing to board a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been difficult.

But the information her husband Idris delivered was even worse. He informed her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been taken into custody and imprisoned. 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

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 north-western Xinjiang region. Over the last ten years, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are estimated to have been imprisoned in alleged "vocational training camps," where they faced mistreatment for commonplace actions like going to a mosque or using a hijab.

The pair had been among many of Uyghurs who fled to Turkey during the 2010s. They believed they would find safety in their new home, but soon realized they were mistaken.

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

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure became an English teacher, while Idris began as a interpreter and artist, assisting to produce Uyghur media and printed works. They had a family of three kids and felt free to live as Muslims.

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. Reports indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his previous arrest, which he suspected was linked to his work with advocates and promoting Uyghur heritage. He decided to escape 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 whole family.

A Terrible Error

Leaving Turkey proved to be a terrible decision. At the airport, border control officials pulled him aside for interrogation. "After he was finally allowed to board the plane, he told me how happy he was that they had released him, but it felt like a set-up to me," she said. Her worst fears were realized when he was removed from the plane and detained by Moroccan authorities.

Over the past decade, China has been utilizing the international police agency Interpol to target political refugees and had requested for Idris to be added on the agency's high-priority "red notice list." Zeynure says Turkish officials let him board the flight aware he would be apprehended upon arrival in Morocco.

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

Family Interference

Soon after hearing of her husband's detention, Zeynure received an surprising phone call from her parents in Xinjiang. She had been separated from her family since they visited her in Turkey in 2016 and were jailed for a few months upon their going back to China.

Her parents had a chilling warning. "They said, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can help you,'" she stated. "I realized there must be some police there with them and just acted 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. 'Don't say anything negative about China.'"

But with her husband's life at stake, the quiet-mannered Zeynure was not going to remain silent. She had grown up seeing women having their hijabs forcibly removed in open by the police and had been resolved to live in a country with freedom of belief.

"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 Twitter. But I had to do something to save my husband – I had to reveal the truth to the international community. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be abused or killed. They forced me to raise my voice."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has two distinct types of memories of her childhood in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the countryside with her elders, 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 relatives around the house and land. It was too beautiful, like a scene from a story."

The second was as a Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, of school holidays cut short by mandatory teachings of "political anthems" and being prohibited from going to the mosque or practicing Ramadan.

China says it is tackling extremism through 'managing unauthorized religious activities' and 'training facilities', but other countries, including the US, say its actions constitute genocide. Zeynure says she never felt free to follow her religious beliefs in Xinjiang. "Individuals who went on pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were detained and sent to prison and told they must have some problem in their brain.

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

She eventually decided to leave China after returning home from university in Eastern China to a increasing crackdown on beliefs in 2011. It was then that she was connected to Idris by one of her school friends. "She was aware we both had taken the choice to go overseas and told us maybe we could meet and go as a group."

Zeynure says she was immediately reassured by Idris. "I saw he was very truthful and reserved, 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."

A New Life in Turkey

Within two months they were wed and ready to move for a different existence in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already residing there, with a comparable language and common ethnicity. "It felt like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a teacher and creative, they could also help the community in exile. "We have many kids now in China growing up without Uyghur traditions or dialect so we think it's our responsibility to not let it die out," she says.

But their sense of safety at finding a place of safety abroad was short-lived. Beijing has become a global leader in targeting dissidents living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, intimidation and physical assault. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent tool of control: using China's growing economic leverage to force other countries to bend to its will, including detaining and extraditing 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 limited time of chance to try to prevent his deportation to China. She right away contacted as many Uyghur support groups as she could find listed on the internet in Europe and the US and begged for help. She was fearless despite China having already shown a willingness to go after the relatives of other individuals.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting updates on social media. 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 issue for the courts to determine.

In early August 2021, Interpol cancelled Idris's alert after being urged to reexamine his case by human rights groups. 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|