Police in Pakistan have arrested a man who allegedly held his wife and five children captive in their home for more than a decade. The victims, including the French national Sylvie Yasmina, report daily physical and emotional abuse.
Yasmina says her husband prevented any contact with the outside world and dominated the family through intimidation. The children were not allowed to attend school, and the younger ones—born in Pakistan—never enrolled. The abuse was described as very violent, with frequent bruises and psychological pressure.
One of the older sons managed to sneak out and file a police report. That act triggered a raid in Bara, a remote town in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
When officers entered the house, they found Yasmina and her children in a cramped, extremely dilapidated room. The room was so confined that the family could not leave during a night. The family had been locked in for twelve years since moving to Pakistan from Australia in 2014.
Police have taken Yasmina and her children to a women’s shelter in Peshawar. Authorities plan to bring them back to France, where they will seek support and justice. The husband’s identity is still unknown but he is described as a Pakistani national who had been living illegally in Australia when he met Yasmina.
The victim’s statement to police, quoted by local media, reads: We were deprived of our freedom. My husband did not care for us like a husband and a father should. He beat us and put pressure on our lives daily. I felt that my future was already ruined; the children’s future would also be ruined.
