A 40-year-old Kenyan domestic worker in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 100 lashes for engaging in extramarital sex, a ruling that has left her fearing the physical punishment while she struggles to secure her departure from the country with her infant son. Esther Wanja Muthoni, a mother of five, received the sentence in October following a series of court hearings, according to a report by The New York Times.
Muthoni had been employed legally as a domestic worker through Maharah Human Resources, a Saudi recruitment firm, when she became pregnant following a brief relationship with an Egyptian man identified only as Mohamud. She gave birth to the child in August 2025 at her staff accommodation. Court documents indicate that a supervisor discovered the pregnancy and took Muthoni and the baby to a hospital, where police subsequently detained her for questioning.
During her detention, Muthoni reportedly informed police that the child's father had already left Saudi Arabia, though his surname was not disclosed in the available documents. Although she was later released from police custody, she was reportedly denied access to both her staff accommodation and a shelter. Consequently, she was forced to reside at a petrol station in Riyadh, a location that had become a known meeting point for migrant mothers attempting to leave the country with their children.
“I am so afraid. I don’t think I can endure those lashes,” Muthoni told The New York Times in a telephone interview last month. The newspaper noted that Muthoni has spent more than a year attempting to leave Saudi Arabia with her child but has been unable to do so due to the ongoing criminal proceedings against her.
In October, a three-judge panel found Muthoni guilty of having sex outside of marriage. The court imposed the sentence of 100 lashes, a punishment prescribed under Saudi Arabia’s interpretation of Islamic law. The ruling has complicated her efforts to return to Kenya, where she hopes to reunite with her other four children.
<small>Source: Daily Post Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
