Kenyan mother reportedly sentenced to 100 lashes in Saudi Arabia
Rights groups have condemned the reported punishment of a Kenyan domestic worker who gave birth outside marriage, highlighting limits to Saudi Arabia’s flogging reforms.
By Larissa Bell ·
A Kenyan woman who gave birth outside marriage in Saudi Arabia has reportedly been sentenced to 100 lashes, drawing condemnation from organisations defending women and migrant workers. Esther Wanja Muthoni, who was recruited as a housekeeper and nanny, received the ruling in October.
Muthoni reportedly became pregnant following a brief relationship with an Egyptian man. She said the child’s father subsequently left Saudi Arabia. Speaking to the New York Times after the ruling, she expressed fear that she would not be able to withstand the punishment and said: “I don’t deserve this.”
Sex outside marriage is a criminal offence under Saudi Arabia’s sharia legal system, but rights organisations say women face disproportionate enforcement. According to those groups, Muthoni’s case reached the authorities because she was taken to a hospital. Hospitals are required to report unmarried women who give birth, while many other women deliver their babies at home and consequently go unreported.
Ekaterina Porras Sivolobova, founder of Do Bold, a non-profit organisation supporting migrant workers’ rights in the Gulf, said obtaining assistance for Kenyan mothers had proved more difficult than for women from other countries. She said she had been unable to secure support from Kenyan authorities. A Guardian investigation in 2024 found that several Kenyan single mothers had been abandoned by their children’s fathers, who feared arrest for sex outside marriage.
Maryam Aldossari, acting director of the UK-based rights organisation ALQST, described the sentence as an act of violence. She said Muthoni should have been returned to Kenya instead of being punished. Aldossari also argued that the ruling contradicted Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to portray the country as modern and supportive of women’s empowerment.
Saudi Arabia announced changes in April 2020 to end flogging for ta’zir offences, for which judges have discretion over punishment. Although that category covered most flogging sentences, the reform did not remove the punishment entirely. ALQST said in a 2021 report that flogging remained possible for certain hudud offences, which carry fixed punishments under Islamic law, including alcohol consumption and adultery.
Meanwhile, a planned Saudi visit by Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, was postponed last week. Alsalem said she had intended to raise individual cases during the visit and would use established channels to do so separately if it could not take place soon. The Saudi government was approached for comment.
