Kenyan women in Saudi Arabia face legal hurdles over children born outside marriage

A Kenyan mother in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 100 lashes and one year of banishment after being convicted of having sex outside marriage  following the birth of her child.

Esther Wanja Muthoni was reported to the police after she went to hospital, where it was discovered that she had given birth outside wedlock, in violation of Saudi Arabia’s Sharia-based laws.

Under Saudi Arabia’s legal system, sex outside marriage is considered a criminal offence and is punishable by law.

Muthoni was working in Saudi Arabia as a domestic worker. She reportedly became pregnant while in a relationship with an Egyptian man who later left the country.

Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei termed the punishment by Saudi Arabia “cruel and inhuman”, saying Kenya would continue engaging the Saudi authorities.

“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,” the PS said.

Muthoni’s case has renewed concerns over Kenyan women who give birth in Saudi Arabia outside marriage and face complex legal and social difficulties, particularly because their children may not be registered.

Although many unmarried women have given birth in Saudi Arabia, some cases go unreported because women fear giving birth in hospitals could lead to them being handed over to the authorities.

The law requires hospitals to report unmarried women who give birth to the authorities. Muthoni’s case became known after she sought medical attention at a hospital.

But this is not the first time Kenyan mothers and other migrants working in Saudi Arabia have been caught up in legal complications over having children outside marriage.

Hundreds of Kenyan mothers are stranded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because they are unable to travel with their children due to a lack of legal documents.

Children born outside wedlock in Saudi Arabia are not entitled to birth certificates. Their undocumented status can prevent them from accessing basic rights and travelling outside the country.

These children are often denied basic rights, including identification, healthcare and education, because they are not issued birth certificates.

Having sex outside marriage is a crime under Saudi Arabia’s Islamic laws, with women disproportionately charged because pregnancies are considered evidence of the offence. Survivors of rape and other sexual offences, including sex trafficking, may also be treated as having engaged in extramarital sex and face prosecution.

In 2025, Global Justice Kenya reported that such children are exposed to child labour, sexual trafficking, illegal adoption and other forms of exploitation and abuse.

“For the mothers, who are exposed to similar risks, the options are only either surrender themselves to the authorities, leave their children behind and start the deportation procedure for themselves alone, or continue leaving in the shadows with their children,” reads a statement by Global Justice Kenya.

The statement indicates that fear of criminal charges poses a major barrier to women in Saudi Arabia registering births or applying to confirm their children’s nationality. The situation is particularly difficult for domestic workers who are in the country illegally after fleeing their employers’ homes.

Media reports show that many Kenyan mothers were abandoned by their children’s fathers, who feared arrest for engaging in extramarital sex.

The New York Times reported that in April 2020, Saudi Arabia announced reforms to end flogging as a judicial punishment. However, the changes applied only to ta’zir offences, for which judges have discretion over punishments. Although most flogging sentences fell into this category, flogging remained a possible punishment for certain fixed offences under Islamic law, including alcohol consumption and adultery.

By August 2023, there were about 210,000 Kenyans in Saudi Arabia, 151,687 of whom were women employed as domestic workers.