IT WAS another tough Mother’s Day for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian mum-of-one jailed in Iran.

Not only was she separated for another year from her young daughter Gabriella – now living in the United Kingdom with her dad, and Farnham man, Richard Ratcliffe – but also on Sunday, she was again hauled in front of judges in Tehran to answer fresh charges of spreading propaganda against the regime.

The judge told her to expect a verdict within seven working days, according to the Free Nazanin campaign.

It has been a long ordeal for Nazanin and her family, after she was jailed in 2016 for allegedly working against the Iranian government, but one that, according to her sister-in-law Dr Rebecca Ratcliffe, has brought her family closer.

“It’s been a whole family thing right from the start,” Rebecca told the Herald. “Obviously Richard has been much more in front of the media. But I’ve been doing a lot of campaigning in Wales, where I live now, and from the early days it was a team effort.

“We’re quite a big family and were reasonably close before all this blew up, but we have definitely got closer through this. Suddenly your brother’s in this emotional turmoil and terrible predicament. And we did all get together pretty quickly. I think it has made us become a lot closer as a family.”

Rebecca, who has herself recently given TV interviews with the likes of Sky News, grew up at the family’s home in Ewshot and like Richard went to school in Farnham. Her parents now live in Fleet, but she still has family in Farnham, while her brother Richard and niece Gabriella live in London.

She added Gabriella, now aged six, was “disappointed” that her mummy was not released as they had hoped last week – but has learnt to live with the uncertainty.

“She’s had a history of broken promises, bless her – ‘Mummy’s going to come out, not going to come out...’,” she continued.

“I think she was probably half expecting mummy not to be released. But she’s certainly looking forward to the time when mummy is home.

“She is very conscious of the fact that she doesn’t have her mummy around her at the moment, and the unfairness of it.

“She wants mummy to take her to school and pick her up from school. She knows what she’s missing out on and wants to start building that relationship with her mummy again.”