A Kenyan mother in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 100 lashes as a punishment for giving birth outside of marriage, according to a report.

Esther Wanja Muthoni, 40, was employed as a domestic worker serving as a housekeeper and nanny for a family in Saudi Arabia.

During this time, she is reported to have become pregnant during a brief relationship with an Egyptian man who has since left the country.

Her case came to light after she was taken to hospital and her condition was discovered. She was then detained and questioned by police.

Ms Muthoni has spent more than a year trying to return home with her one-year-old son Abudy, but has been blocked at every turn, according to the New York Times.

“I am so afraid,” she said in an interview last month. “I don’t think I can endure those lashes.”

Sex outside of marriage is illegal in Saudi Arabia, which rights groups say disproportionately affects women who can then become pregnant from the encounters.

The situation is especially precarious for migrant workers from African countries including Kenya. The Times reports that hundreds of Kenyan women have been beaten and countless others raped and beaten during their employment in the country.

Rights groups have condemned the action. Maryam Aldossari, acting director of the UK-based ALQST organisation, said that the punishment is an act of violence and that Ms Muthoni should be allowed to return home.

She said that Saudi rulers have been “trying to show the world that Saudi is becoming a modern country that empowers women, yet we see the court sentence a mother to 100 lashes.”

Ms Muthoni is said not to have been allowed to return to staff housing after giving birth and was left living in a petrol station that became a gathering spot for mothers who hoped to be deported with their children.

She was then provided with housing after media coverage, but was told she could not leave the country while her case was pending.

She said that she had been provided with a translator but was not given a lawyer to represent herself, and court documents seen by the Times are said to corroborate this. Usually defendants in criminal cases are entitled to state-sponsored lawyers.

The punishment for women involves being seated and clothed while lashed across the body with a bamboo stick.

The Independent has contacted the government of Saudi Arabia for comment.