‘They told me not to speak out’: the woman who took on China – and won her husband’s freedom

Zeynure Hasan says she had never considered herself political or outspoken until her husband was arrested. Photograph: Emre Çaylak/The Guardian

Zeynure Hasan was at home in Istanbul in July 2021 when her husband finally called. It had been four days since she last heard from him as he got ready to board a flight to Casablanca. The silence had been torturous.

But the news Idris now shared with her was even worse. He had been arrested and imprisoned on arrival in Morocco and told he was going to be deported to China. “You should call anyone who can help me, anyone who can rescue me,” he told her, before the phone went dead.