OTTAWA — Joshua Boyle, the Canadian man who was held hostage along with his American wife in Afghanistan for five years, has been arrested and faces 15 criminal charges, court records show.

The charges include sexual assault, forcible confinement, drugging and assault, and all involve events that happened after Mr. Boyle and his family returned to Canada in mid-October. Court documents show that Mr. Boyle was arrested on Monday.

Since being freed by Pakistani troops along with his wife, Caitlan Coleman Boyle, and their three children who were born in captivity, Mr. Boyle has described several gruesome episodes that he said occurred during their captivity. Among other things, he said that members of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network raped Ms. Coleman and killed their fourth child, an infant.

Ms. Coleman Boyle has said that the captors beat their eldest son.

It is still unclear why the couple took what many viewed as an exceedingly dangerous trip into an unstable region of Afghanistan during 2012.