Uighurs forcibly repatriated to China from Thailand last month tried to resist getting on the aircraft for fear they would be executed, China has confirmed for the first time.

Thailand in July returned 109 Uighurs out of the 400 who were discovered last year in people-smuggling camps in its southern jungles, in their attempt to flee China for refuge in Turkey. The previous week, Turkey had agreed to take 173 of the Uighurs, many of them women and children.

Uighurs are a Muslim people with cultural and linguistic ties to Turkey that are native to the resource-rich region of Xinjiang on China’s border with Central Asia. Beijing blames rising strife in the region on Islamist terrorism and independence movements, while Uighur groups point to an influx of Chinese business interests and discriminatory employment and religious restrictions.