Held captive for a decade: French woman, 5 kids rescued in Pakistan

2 min readNew DelhiJun 24, 2026 11:30 PM IST

Police carried out a raid at the couple's home in Bara, a remote town in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. (AP Photo/ Representational)

A man in northwestern Pakistan was arrested by authorities after he allegedly held his 54-year-old French wife and five children captive at home and abused them for over a decade.

After police carried out a raid at their home in Bara, a remote town in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the man, Ahmad Khan, was arrested as one of the couple’s sons managed to alert the authorities after escaping the home, AP reported.

Allegations of severe domestic violence

The man’s wife, a French national named Sylvie Yasmina, claimed he assaulted her and the family mentally and physically on a “daily basis” and said that he is a “very violent” person, police officials told BBC.

According to district police chief Waqar Ahmad, Khan was held at his home last week, and further investigations are underway. Officials said Yasmina and her children were taken to a women’s police station for protection.

Repatriation efforts and French embassy coordination

Ahmad said Yasmina has expressed her desire to move back to France, and the authorities were coordinating with relevant officials in order to arrange a repatriation with the French embassy. But the embassy has not commented on the matter till now, AP reported.

Decade-long confinement and lack of schooling

The investigators revealed that Yasmina told them she hasn’t been able to live freely after moving to Pakistan in 2014. The report added that Yasmina’s children were not enrolled in school.

Rescue conditions and public statement

In a video recorded and released publicly by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, Yasmina is heard speaking a mix of English and Pashto, where she thanked the officers for rescuing her and her family and expressed her desire to return to France.

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The BBC report stated that when police raided their home in Bara, Yasmina and her five children were found in a cramped and “extremely dilapidated room” with bruise marks all over her body.

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Pakistan