Source: New York Times
“A Saudi court has sentenced a domestic worker from Kenya to 100 lashes for giving birth outside marriage. The ruling, issued last month, shows the limits of a decade of social and legal reforms in a kingdom where women can be jailed and punished for ‘illegal pregnancy.’ The sentence is a harsh turn in what has been a terrifying ordeal for a mother who has tried for more than a year to return to Kenya with her child but has been blocked at every turn. The mother, Esther Wanja Muthoni, is one of thousands of East African domestic workers who were recruited to work as housekeepers and nannies in Saudi Arabia. … Ms. Muthoni was working legally as a domestic worker through Maharah Human Resources, a Saudi corporation, when she became pregnant during a brief relationship with an Egyptian resident of the kingdom.” (11/10/26)