11.11.2026
A Kenyan woman Esther Wanja Muthoni working as a domestic help in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 100 lashes and one year banishment for having a baby outside of wedlock.
Her plight was made public by a New York Times reporter Abdi Latif who posted the development on X social media. Muthoni was sentenced in October and has been trying to leave the country without success.
The story has sparked an outrage in Kenya and according to Kenya’s minister of foreign affairs Secretary Korir Sing’oei, the Saudi authorities must not mete out the “inhuman” punishment on Muthoni.
“Saddened by what would constitute ‘cruel and inhuman’ punishment under our jurisdiction, but respectful of the sovereignty of Saudi legal system. We shall continue to work with our counterparts on these complex arenas of judicial enforcement,” Sing’oei said in a statement.
Some other Kenyan women had been deported previously for having children outside marriage in the country that adopts strict Islamic codes to whip citizens in line.
On October 21 a Bangladeshi couple Suety Akhter and Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir were executed by the Saudi authorities for allegedly having sex in a Mosque. However, details of the case were not made public, and relatives of the duo have accused the Saudi authorities of framing the couple.
Esther Wanja Muthoni ...