A French woman and her five children have been rescued by Pakistan police after she alleged that she was held captive by her husband for more than a decade and subjected to years of physical and psychological abuse in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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According to news agency the Associated Press (AP), 54-year-old Sylvie Yasmina was rescued earlier this week from a mud-brick house in Bara, a town near the Afghanistan border. District police chief Waqar Ahmad said her husband, Ahmad Khan, has been arrested and an investigation is underway.
Police said the rescue followed a desperate attempt by one of Yasmina’s sons, who managed to leave the house and reach a nearby police station to seek help.
Family allegedly confined since 2014
Yasmina told investigators that she had been unable to live freely since moving to Pakistan in 2014.
According to BBC, she alleged that her husband had “effectively imprisoned” the family after they moved from Australia to Pakistan.
