(Image from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police) "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police"
Pakistani police have arrested a man accused of imprisoning and abusing his French wife and their children for nearly 12 years since moving from Australia.
BBC reported on 24 Jun 2026, citing local Pakistani police, that authorities arrested a man suspected of detaining his French wife and children inside their home and abusing them for over a decade.
The wife, Sylvie Yasmina, told police her husband physically and mentally abused the family “daily,” describing him as having a “very violent” nature.
One of their sons seized an opportunity to escape secretly and report to the police, leading to a raid on their home in Bara, a remote town in the mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Police found Yasmina and their five children in a “cramped and severely dilapidated” room, with all showing bruises and black-and-blue marks on their bodies.
Yasmina and the children were taken to a women's shelter in Peshawar, with police stating plans are underway for them to return to France.
Yasmina, 54, said her husband completely confined her and the children to the house since the family moved from Australia to Pakistan in 2014.
“According to the woman’s testimony... she was not allowed to meet anyone. The two eldest children lost educational opportunities, while the three younger children born in Pakistan never attended school even once,” a senior officer told BBC Urdu.
Officials revealed few details about the husband, only that he is Pakistani and was “illegally residing” in Australia when they met in 2003, living there until 2014 before moving to Pakistan with their two eldest children.
“Our freedom was taken away. My husband did not care for us as a husband and father should. He beat us and pressured every aspect of our lives daily,” Yasmina wrote in a statement to the police, parts of which were published by local media.
“I feel my future is destroyed, and the future of my children will likely be destroyed too.”
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Source:bbc