54-year-old Sylvie Yasmina was rescued earlier this week from a mud-brick house in Bara, a town close to the Afghan border.
Pakistani police have rescued a French woman and her five children after she claimed she was held captive by her husband for more than a decade and subjected her to years of physical and psychological abuse in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.According to the Associated Press, 54-year-old Sylvie Yasmina was rescued earlier this week from a mud-brick house in Bara, a town close to the Afghan border. District Police Chief Waqar Ahmed said that her husband, Ahmed Khan, was arrested and is being investigated.The police said that the rescue operation came after a desperate attempt by one of Yasmina’s sons, who was able to leave the house and reach a nearby police station to seek help.
The family has allegedly been confined since 2014
Yasmina told investigators that she had not been able to live freely since moving to Pakistan in 2014.According to the BBC, she claimed that her husband “imprisoned” the family after they moved from Australia to Pakistan.
The British Broadcasting Corporation reported that the couple married in 2003 and lived in Australia until 2014 before moving to Pakistan with their two older children.A senior police official told BBC Urdu that Yasmina claimed she was not allowed to meet anyone outside the family, while her two eldest children were not educated, and her three younger children born in Pakistan had never attended school.
Police said Yasmina and her children were found living in a narrow and “extremely dilapidated” room.According to the Associated Press, she had visible injuries on her face, while authorities found bruises on the bodies of family members.
A woman seeks to return to France
After the rescue operation, Yasmina and her children were taken to the women’s police station and later transferred to a shelter in Peshawar for protection.The police said that Yasmina expressed her desire to return to France, and the authorities are coordinating with the relevant officials and the French embassy regarding returning them to their homeland.
There was no immediate comment from the French embassy, according to the Associated Press.In a video recorded by the police and shown to the media, Yasmina thanked the officers for saving her and reiterated her desire to return to France.In her statement to police, parts of which were published by local media, Yasmina alleged that her husband physically and mentally abused the family on a daily basis.We were deprived [of our] Freedom, my husband did not take care of us properly as a husband and father to my children.
“It hits us and puts pressure on our lives on a daily basis,” she said.She added: “I felt like my future was already destroyed, and the children’s future would be destroyed as well.”
Domestic violence concerns in Pakistan
This case has renewed interest in domestic violence and the challenges faced by women in Pakistan.Human rights groups say hundreds of women report physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their husbands and family members every year, although many cases go unreported.Shabina Ayaz, director of the Aurat Human Rights Foundation, condemned the alleged treatment of Yasmina and called for support from the Pakistani authorities and the French embassy.She said the case should serve as a “wake-up call” to authorities and society.
