Saudi court sentences Kenyan domestic worker to 100 lashes for giving birth outside of marriage

Saudi Arabia has sentenced Kenyan domestic worker Esther Wanja Muthoni to 100 lashes for having sex outside marriage, after she gave birth to a son. The ruling highlights the risks faced by migrant workers who become pregnant and the limits of reforms that have eased some restrictions on women.

Muthoni, 40, says she has been trying for more than a year to return to Kenya with her child, but the pending case prevented her departure. She was convicted in October by a Riyadh criminal court after hearings last summer; she says she had a translator but no lawyer. The article says Saudi judges interpret Islamic law case by case because the kingdom has no written penal code, and reports that children of unmarried mothers can struggle to obtain birth certificates.