Bethany Vierra has lost custody of her daughter after moving to Saudi Arabia (Picture: Facebook/Instagram)

A US mother has lost custody of her daughter after she was ruled to be ‘too Western’ by a court in Saudi Arabia.

Bethany Vierra, 32, wanted sole custody of her child after divorcing her Saudi husband.

But the court rejected her application on the grounds that she would expose Zaina to Western conventions.

According to CNN, her ex-husband’s lawyers cited her Instagram posts ‘full of nudity, intermingling of the two sexes and a lot of things and actions contrary to our religion and customs and traditions’ as reasons for her not being a fit mother.


Yoga teacher Bethany was also criticised for attending US music festival Burning Men.



It was described in the court as ‘the world’s strangest festival’ where attendees ‘appear in crazy clothes and stay awake all night dancing and surrounded by people wearing only shoes made of fur, or drinking drugs (sic) or cold drinks.’

Bethany lost custody of her daughter last month (Picture:Facebook)

Bethany’s social media channels were cited as a reason for her not being fit to be a mum (Picture: Facebook)

As Judge Abdul-Ellah ibn Mohammed al-Tuwaijri passed the ruling last month, he described Bethany as ‘new to Islam’ and still a ‘foreigner’ to the Emirates country.

She was said to ‘continue to definitively embrace the customs and traditions of her upbringing.

‘We must avoid exposing (Zaina) to these customs and traditions, especially at this early age,’ the judge said.

Grandma Myron Vierra fear they won’t see their beloved Bethany and Zaina again (Picture: Facebook)

Bethany contested the allegations and said Zaina’s dad is actually the one posing a risk given his alleged record of verbally abusive behaviour and drug abuse.

But the judge nonetheless granted custody of Zaina to her grandmother, with whom her father is currently living.

Bethany is said to be collecting all the necessary documents to appeal her ruling, which she must do before Sunday.

Bethany’s parents, from Washington state, have spoken about the fear of not seeing Zaina and Bethany, who they said has also been banned for 10 years from leaving the country although they fell short of detailing why.

The yoga teacher had moved to Saudi Arabia back in 2011 to teach at a university (Picture: Instagram)

They also said an arrest warrant has been issued for their daughter after she missed a child visitation by her ex-husband, although they claim she was never informed of it.

Myron Vierra told CNN: ‘Bethany won’t give up. Because that’s her daughter.

‘And it makes perfect sense that she won’t give up. We also realize that she may lose her life doing this, or we may never see her again.’

Under Saudi law, which is based on sharia law, mothers generally retain day-to-day custody of sons until they turn nine and daughters until they turn seven.

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