Unwed Motherhood in Saudi Arabia: Female Domestic Worker Sentenced to 100 Lashes

A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced Esther Wanja Muthoni, a 35-year-old Kenyan domestic worker, to 100 lashes on charges of adultery. The court delivered the verdict last October following several hearings. Terrified of facing the sentence, Ms. Muthoni is now desperately attempting to return to Kenya with her one-year-old son. According to a report published by The New York Times on Tuesday, Ms. Muthoni has been trying to leave Saudi Arabia with her child for over a year. However, she has been unable to leave the country because of the ongoing criminal proceedings against her.

“I am terrified. I don’t think I will be able to endure the pain of being lashed,” Ms. Muthoni told the publication in a telephone interview last month. A mother of five, Ms. Muthoni was legally working as a housemaid through a Saudi recruitment agency, Maharah Human Resources. She became pregnant following a brief relationship with an Egyptian man named Mahmoud while fulfilling her duties.

In August 2025, she gave birth to a child at the worker accommodation facility. Court documents show that a supervisor learned of the situation and took her and the newborn to a hospital. Later, police arrived at the hospital and detained Muthoni for questioning regarding her pregnancy. During interrogation, Ms. Muthoni told the police that the child’s father had already left Saudi Arabia. However, the court documents did not reveal the man’s full name or title.

Although Ms. Muthoni was later released from police custody, she was denied entry to worker accommodations or any shelters. Out of necessity, she took shelter at a gas station in Riyadh, which has become a temporary gathering point for expatriate mothers seeking to leave Saudi Arabia. Last October, a panel of three judges found Ms. Muthoni guilty of extramarital physical relations and ordered her to receive 100 lashes in accordance with Islamic law.