The Activist Who Stood Up to Chinese Authorities and Achieved Her Husband's Release

In July 2021, Zeynure Hasan was at her residence in Istanbul when she answered a desperately anticipated phone call from her husband. There had been four painful days since their last communication, when he was getting ready to take a flight to Casablanca. The lack of communication had been unbearable.

But the news her husband Idris revealed was more devastating. He informed her that upon landing in Morocco, he had been taken into custody and jailed. Authorities told him he would be sent back to China. "Reach out to anyone who can help me," he pleaded, before the line went silent.

Life as Uyghurs in Turkey

The wife, in her early thirties, and Idris, 37, are members of the mostly Muslim community, which makes up about half of the residents in China's western Xinjiang province. Over the past decade, over a 1,000,000 Uyghurs are reported to have been imprisoned in alleged "vocational training camps," where they faced abuse for ordinary actions like going to a place of worship or using a headscarf.

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

"Authorities informed me that the Beijing officials threatened to close all its industrial plants in the nation if Morocco freed him," she said.

After settling in Istanbul, Zeynure worked as an English teacher, while Idris started as a interpreter and designer, helping to publish Uyghur media and publications. They had three children and felt able to practice as Muslims.

But when one of Idris's close friends, who was employed in a book repository containing Uyghur books, was detained in the summer of 2021, Idris became fearful. Reports indicated that Beijing was pressuring Turkey to deport 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 chose to escape 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 Terrible Mistake

Leaving Turkey proved to be a terrible decision. At the Istanbul airport, border control officials took Idris aside for interrogation. "When he was finally allowed to get on the plane, he told me how happy he was that they had released him, but it felt like a set-up to me," she recalled. Her worst fears were realized when he was taken off the plane and arrested by border officials.

Over the last ten years, China has been using the global police agency Interpol to target political refugees and had asked for Idris to be added on the agency's most-wanted "red notice list." Zeynure says Turkish officials allowed him board the flight knowing he would be arrested upon landing in Morocco.

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

Family Interference

Soon after hearing of her husband's arrest, Zeynure got an unexpected phone call from her family in Xinjiang. She had been cut off from her relatives since they came to see 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 told me, 'We know your husband is not with you. Perhaps we can help you,'" she explained. "I knew there must be some authorities 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. 'Don't do anything except caring for your children,' they told me. 'Don't say 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 authorities 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 these platforms. But I had to do something to rescue my husband – I had to tell the truth to the international community. Everyone knows Uyghurs deported to China will be abused or killed. They forced me to speak out."

Growing Up in Xinjiang

Zeynure has different types of memories of her early years in Xinjiang. The first was of blissful days spent in the countryside with her grandparents, who were agricultural workers. "I'd play with the animals and chickens. I don't know if I will ever have that type of opportunity again. The family around the house and land. It was too wonderful, like a scene from a story."

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

China claims it is addressing extremism through 'controlling unauthorized religious activities' and 'training centers', 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 pilgrimage to Mecca abroad were arrested and sent to prison and told they must have some issue in their mind.

"They aimed for Uyghur people to forget their faith and heritage. They said 'you should believe in us, we provided you employment 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 repression 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 choice to go abroad and told us perhaps we could meet and go as a group."

Zeynure says she was immediately reassured by Idris. "I saw he was very truthful 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 different."

Fresh Start in Turkey

Within 60 days they were wed and ready to leave for a different existence in Turkey. They knew it was an Muslim-majority country with many believers and Uyghurs already residing there, with a comparable tongue and common ethnicity. "It was like Uyghurs' second home," says Zeynure. As a educator and designer, they could also support the community in exile. "We have many kids now in China growing up without Uyghur culture 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 targeting dissidents living in exile through the use of electronic surveillance, threats and violence. But what Idris was subjected to was a more recent method of control: using China's increasing financial influence to pressure other nations to bend to its will, including arresting and extraditing Uyghurs it wants to silence.

Fighting for Freedom

After the call from Idris, and discovering he had an Interpol alert hanging over him, Zeynure knew she only had a limited time of chance to try to stop his extradition to China. She right away contacted as many Uyghur advocacy organizations as she could find listed online in Europe and the US and pleaded for assistance. She was brave despite China having already demonstrated a willingness to target the family members of other targets.

Zeynure started protesting with her children at the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, and posting updates on social media. To her surprise, similar protests soon followed in Morocco calling for Idris's release. Moroccan officials were compelled to issue a announcement saying his extradition was a matter for the courts to decide.

In the start of August 2021, Interpol withdrew Idris's alert after being pressed to reexamine his case by advocacy organizations. But that did not stop a Moroccan court later deciding he should still be sent back to China. Zeynure says there was huge diplomatic pressure from Beijing, which made {little sense|