Kenyan domestic worker in Saudi Arabia sentenced to 100 lashes for out-of-wedlock birth

A Riyadh court has sentenced Esther Wanja Muthoni, a 40-year-old Kenyan domestic worker and mother of five, to 100 lashes and one year of banishment for giving birth outside marriage, according to The New York Times. The sentence was handed down last month after the court found her guilty of sex outside marriage under Islamic law. Muthoni had traveled legally to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic worker through Maharah Human Resources. While in the kingdom, she had a brief relationship with an Egyptian man and became pregnant. She gave birth to her son, Abudy, in August 2025 while living in staff accommodation. The court imposed the 100 lashes required under Islamic law for the offense. Its ruling did not mention any action against the child's father, who has since left Saudi Arabia. Muthoni went through the court proceedings without legal representation. She reportedly decided not to appeal because she feared an appeal would extend her stay in the kingdom. For more than a year she has tried to return to Kenya with her child, but documentation difficulties have prevented travel. Her Kenyan exit documents have expired, and she does not know when she will be able to return home. It also remains unclear when the sentence will be carried out or what arrangements will be made for her return to Kenya. The ruling illustrates the limits of a decade of social and legal reforms in a kingdom where women can be jailed and punished for "illegal pregnancy." The sentence is a severe turn in what has been a frightening ordeal for a mother who has sought for more than a year to return to Kenya with her child but has been blocked at every turn. Muthoni is one of thousands of East African domestic workers recruited to work as housekeepers and nannies in Saudi Arabia.