Out of wedlock migrant sentenced to 100 lashes

A Kenyan mother in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 100 lashes for an illegitimate child.

Under Saudi sharia law, sex outside marriage is a criminal offence. But human rights groups, which have denounced the punishment as an “act of violence,” say it is women who suffer disproportionate discrimination.

Although many unmarried women give birth in Saudi Arabia, human rights groups say the case of the Kenyan mother only became known because she was taken to a hospital, which is required to report the birth of unmarried women to authorities.

“Most of them give birth at home, so they’re not reported,” says the founder of a nonprofit organization that advocates for migrant workers in the Gulf.

The Kenyan mother, Esther Vanya Mutoni, was a domestic worker hired to work as a housekeeper and nanny in Saudi Arabia. She reportedly became pregnant during a brief relationship with an Egyptian and reported that the child's father has since left the country.

An investigation by The Guardian in 2024 found that several Kenyan single mothers were abandoned by their children's fathers for fear of being arrested for extramarital sex. After the ruling, which was handed down last month, Mutoni told The New York Times that she feared she wouldn't stand the lash and said, "I don't deserve it.".

That's because a planned visit to Saudi Arabia by Rim Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, was postponed last week. Alsalem said she intended to "raise the situation with specific cases during the visit." If the visit does not take place soon, I will do so separately through established channels that we have.”.

Mariam Aldossari, acting director of the UK-based human rights organization ALQST (from al-qist, Arabic for “justice”), said the court’s decision was an act of violence and the woman should have been sent back to Kenya rather than punished.

It just shows the hypocrisy behind the so-called Saudi reforms. “We know that MBS [Mohammad bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia] tried to show the world that Saudi Arabia is becoming a modern country that empowers women, but we see the court sentence the mother to 100 lashes,” Aldossari said.

In April 2020, Saudi Arabia announced a reform aimed at abolishing spanking as a judicial punishment. However, it applies only to offences in cases where judges have discretion to impose penalties. While most flogging sentences fall into this category, flogging remains a possible punishment for certain offenses, such as alcohol use and adultery, the rights organization said in a 2021 report.