A French national, Sylvie Yasmina, and her five children, have been rescued in Pakistan after allegedly being held captive and abused for more than 12 years by her husband in a remote mountainous area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Pakistani police confirmed that the woman and her children were discovered during a raid on a dilapidated home in Bara, following a complaint filed by one of the couple’s sons who had managed to escape and alert authorities.
According to BBC Urdu, Yasmina accused her husband of subjecting the family to daily physical and psychological abuse.
“He was very violent,” local police quoted her as saying, adding that she was subjected to constant assault and isolation.
One senior police officer said the family was found in deplorable conditions at the time of the rescue.
“According to the woman… She was not allowed to meet anyone; their two older children had missed their studies, while the three younger children were born in Pakistan and never enrolled in school,” the officer told BBC Urdu.
Police said Yasmina and her children were immediately moved to a women’s shelter in Peshawar for protection and care, while arrangements were being made for their possible return to France.
The 54-year-old French national alleged that she had been effectively cut off from the outside world since the family relocated from Australia to Pakistan in 2014.
“We were deprived [of our] freedom; my husband didn’t take care of us the way he should as a husband and the father of my children. He beats us and puts pressure on our lives on a daily basis,” Yasmina said in a written statement to police, parts of which have been reported by local media.
“I felt that my future was already ruined; the future of the children would also be ruined.”
Authorities have not yet identified the suspect, a Pakistani national who reportedly met Yasmina while he was “illegally residing” in Australia. The couple married in 2003 and lived in Australia until 2014 before relocating to Pakistan with their two older children.
Police say investigations were ongoing into the circumstances surrounding the alleged long-term captivity and abuse.
