Kenyan Worker Sentenced to 100 Lashes in Saudi Arabia

A Riyadh criminal court convicted Kenyan domestic worker Esther Wanja Muthoni of sex outside marriage and sentenced her in October to 100 lashes and one year of banishment, according to court documents reviewed by investigators. The sentence followed several hearings last summer before a three-judge panel. It is not known when the lashes will be carried out or where the banishment order would send her.

Muthoni, 40, had been trying for more than a year to return to Kenya with her one-year-old son, Abudy. The criminal case prevented them from leaving Saudi Arabia, and Kenyan exit documents previously issued for them have expired. Their route home and the status of any new travel authorization have not been established.

Muthoni gave birth in August 2025 while living in staff accommodation. She had been working legally as a domestic worker through Maharah Human Resources and became pregnant after a brief relationship with an Egyptian resident identified in court documents as Mohamud. After a supervisor found her and the baby and took them to a hospital, police detained her for questioning. She told police the child’s father had left Saudi Arabia; the court documents did not include...