A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 40-year-old Kenyan domestic worker, Esther Wanja Muthoni, to 100 lashes for having sex outside marriage after giving birth to a child in the kingdom.

The October judgment has left Muthoni fearing the punishment while struggling to secure permission to return to Kenya with her one-year-old son, Abudy, amid ongoing legal and immigration complications.

According to a report by The New York Times on Tuesday, Muthoni has spent more than a year trying to leave Saudi Arabia with her son but has been unable to travel because of the criminal case against her.

“I am so afraid,” she told the newspaper in a telephone interview last month.

“I don’t think I can endure those lashes,” she said.

Muthoni, who has five other children, was legally employed as a domestic worker through Maharah Human Resources, a Saudi recruitment company, when she became pregnant after a brief relationship with an Egyptian resident identified only as Mohamud.

She delivered her son in August 2025 at her workplace accommodation. Court documents reviewed by the newspaper showed that a supervisor discovered her and the newborn before taking them to a hospital. Police subsequently detained her for questioning over the pregnancy.

During police questioning, Muthoni identified Mohamud as the child’s father and said he had already left Saudi Arabia. However, the court documents did not disclose his surname.

Although she was eventually released from police custody, she reportedly lost access to her staff accommodation and was also unable to secure a place in a shelter.

With nowhere else to go, she moved to a petrol station in Riyadh, which had become a meeting point for migrant mothers seeking ways to leave Saudi Arabia with their children.

Following an earlier investigation by The New York Times into the difficulties faced by East African domestic workers who become pregnant in the kingdom, Maharah provided Muthoni with accommodation. The Kenyan Embassy also issued travel documents intended to facilitate her return home with Abudy.

However, the pending criminal proceedings prevented her from leaving the country despite the assistance.

The newspaper also reported concerns about the legal representation available to Muthoni during her trial. Although she was provided with an interpreter, she did not have a lawyer, and the court documents contained no evidence that she had legal representation.

Saudi Arabia provides state-funded legal assistance to indigent defendants. However, experts told The New York Times that criminal proceedings sometimes take place without lawyers representing defendants, even in cases where the accused faces the death penalty.

In October, a three-judge panel convicted Muthoni of having sex outside marriage and sentenced her to 100 lashes, a punishment prescribed under the court’s interpretation of Islamic law.

The judgment also did not indicate that authorities had taken action against the child’s father.

The sentence has drawn criticism from Ekaterina Porras Sivolobova, a labour migration analyst and founder of the non-profit organisation Do Bold, who said the punishment contravened international human rights standards.

“This sentence of flogging does not align with international human rights standards,” she told the newspaper.

She argued that the punishment further undermined the dignity of a woman already facing difficult circumstances rather than offering protection to someone in a vulnerable position.

The case has also renewed scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s judicial practices, particularly its claims of legal reforms and the 2020 announcement of restrictions on flogging.

However, The New York Times observed that court judgments involving morality-related offences are not routinely made public, making it difficult to determine how frequently judges continue to impose the punishment.

Saudi Arabia operates a judicial system based on Islamic law, known as sharia, but does not have a codified penal system.

Consequently, judges interpret Islamic law when determining criminal offences and appropriate punishments, leaving room for differences in how certain offences are handled.

Muthoni did not challenge her conviction, explaining that her priority was to return to Kenya and reunite with her other children.

“It is the only way that can take me back home to my children,” she said.

Beyond the 100 lashes, the court also sentenced her to one year of banishment. However, the newspaper explained that Saudi regulations generally permit authorities to relocate individuals sentenced to banishment to another city within the kingdom when the judgment does not specify a destination.

It is therefore unclear whether the banishment order will result in Muthoni’s deportation to Kenya.

Her travel documents have also expired, further complicating efforts to secure her departure with her son.

The New York Times reported that the Saudi and Kenyan governments, alongside representatives of Maharah Human Resources, did not respond to its requests for comments on the case.

The latest development comes against the backdrop of longstanding concerns about the treatment of East African women recruited as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.

An earlier investigation by the newspaper documented allegations of physical abuse, sexual violence, unpaid wages and abandonment involving migrant domestic workers from the region.

It also found that some Kenyan women who became pregnant while working in Saudi Arabia encountered difficulties obtaining birth certificates for their children, a major obstacle to securing travel documents and returning home.

The investigation further documented allegations that some diplomats responsible for assisting the women neglected their cases or demanded bribes and sexual favours in exchange for help. (Nigerian Tribune)