A Saudi criminal court in Riyadh sentenced Kenyan domestic worker Esther Wanja Muthoni to 100 lashes and a year’s banishment after convicting her of sex outside marriage, according to a New York Times investigation that reviewed court documents and interviewed her.
Muthoni, 40 and a mother of five, became pregnant through a relationship with an Egyptian man who later left the kingdom. Under Saudi law, the offence she was convicted of is among those where corporal punishment remains prescribed, despite a 2020 announcement restricting flogging.
Her youngest child, a son named Abudy, was born in August 2025. He remains in Saudi Arabia and cannot travel to Kenya with his mother.
A supervisor took Muthoni to hospital after the pregnancy was discovered, and police detained her for questioning. A three-judge panel prosecuted and convicted her after hearings. She had a court translator but no lawyer. The judgment did not indicate that authorities pursued the child’s father.
Muthoni did not appeal the conviction. She has four other children in Kenya and has said she is afraid of the lashes. Her employer provided accommodation after the investigation was published.
The Kenyan Embassy issued exit documents for Muthoni and her son, but the documents expired before the proceedings concluded.
