The Activist Who Defied China and Won Her Husband's Freedom

In July 2021, a Uyghur woman named Zeynure was at her home in Istanbul when she answered a long-awaited phone call from her husband. It had been four painful days since their last communication, when he was preparing to take a flight to Casablanca. The silence had been difficult.

But the information her husband Idris revealed was more alarming. He informed her that upon arrival in Morocco, he had been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities told him he would be sent back to China. "Reach out to everyone who can assist me," he said, before the line went silent.

Life as Ethnic Minority in Turkey

Zeynure, 31 years old, and Idris, 37, are part of the mostly Muslim ethnic group, which makes up about half of the residents in China's western Xinjiang region. Over the last ten years, more than a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are estimated to have been detained in so-called "re-education camps," where they faced mistreatment for commonplace acts like going to a place of worship or wearing a headscarf.

The pair had been among many of Uyghurs who escaped to Turkey during the 2010s. They believed they would find security in exile, but soon realized they were wrong.

"I was told that the Beijing officials threatened to close all its industrial plants in the country if Morocco freed him," she stated.

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure became an language instructor, while Idris started as a interpreter and designer, helping to produce Uyghur news and publications. They had three children and enjoyed able to practice as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's best friends, who worked in a library stocking Uyghur books, was detained in the summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. News indicated that Beijing was urging Turkey to extradite Uyghurs. Idris felt at risk due to his prior detention, which he suspected was linked to his work with advocates and supporting Uyghur heritage. He decided to escape 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 turned out to be a disastrous decision. At the airport, immigration officials pulled him aside for interrogation. "After he was finally allowed to board the plane, he told me how relieved he was that they had let him go, but it felt like a set-up to me," she said. Her deepest concerns were confirmed when he was removed from the plane and detained by border officials.

Over the past decade, China has been using the global police agency Interpol to pursue political refugees and had requested for Idris to be placed on the agency's high-priority "red notice list." Zeynure says Turkish officials let him take the flight aware he would be arrested upon landing in Morocco.

What happened next would convince her to do what many Uyghurs fear most: defy China, despite the risks.

Family Interference

Soon after hearing of her husband's arrest, Zeynure received 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 jailed for a few months upon their going back to China.

Her parents had a chilling message. "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 pretended like I didn't know anything. But they persisted and told me not to do anything to help my husband. 'Avoid doing anything except feeding your children,' they told me. 'Don't say 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 seeing women having their hijabs forcibly removed in public by the police and had been resolved to live in a country with religious freedom.

"Prior to my husband was arrested in Morocco, I didn't do anything. I was just caring for my family; I didn't even have social media or Twitter. But I had to do something to save my husband – I had to tell the reality 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 memories 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 chickens. 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 book."

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

China says it is tackling radicalism through 'managing unauthorized religious activities' and 'vocational education facilities', but other nations, including the US, say its actions constitute genocide. Zeynure says she never felt free to follow her faith in Xinjiang. "Individuals who went on religious journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were arrested and transferred to jail and told they must have some problem in their brain.

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

She eventually decided to depart China after returning home from university in another part of 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 was aware we both had taken the decision to go abroad and told us maybe we could meet and go together."

Zeynure says she was right away reassured 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 wed me, but Idris was unique."

A New Life in Turkey

Within two months they were wed and prepared to leave for a different existence in Turkey. They knew it was an Islamic country with many Muslims and Uyghurs already residing there, with a comparable language and shared ethnicity. "It felt 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 duty to not let it disappear," she says.

But their relief at locating a place of safety overseas was short-lived. Beijing has become a global leader 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 tool of control: using China's growing economic leverage to pressure other nations to yield to its demands, including arresting and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to suppress.

Campaigning for Release

After the call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol alert hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a limited time of opportunity to try to stop his extradition to China. She immediately reached out to as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find advertised on the internet in Europe and the US and begged for help. She was brave despite China having already shown a readiness to go after the family members of other targets.

Zeynure started demonstrating with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting updates on online platforms. To her amazement, similar protests soon followed in Morocco calling for Idris's release. Moroccan officials were compelled to issue a announcement saying his deportation was a matter for the judicial system to determine.

In early August 2021, Interpol cancelled Idris's red notice 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 political influence from Beijing, which made {little sense|