FARNHAM man Richard Ratcliffe’s four-year-old daughter Gabriella has told her friends she has “no family” in heartbreaking comments made while her mother, British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is held in prison in Iran.

The charity worker has been jailed in the Iranian capital Tehran ever since she was arrested as she went to board a plane back to the UK after taking Gabriella to meet her parents in April 2016.

Accused of spying and conspiring to topple the Iranian government, Nazanin was allowed to spend a few precious days with her daughter Gabriella on a temporary ‘furlough’ from prison last year before she was forced to return to jail.

Her husband Richard, who grew up in Farnham and still has family in the town, is campaigning for his wife’s release in London and can only communicate with his daughter, who is living with her grandparents, by Skype.

In an exclusive interview with The Times published this week, Gabriella sent an emotional message to her father, asking a reporter to “tell him that I love him and I hope he loves me”.

Gabriella spoke to the British newspaper after visiting her mother in prison, as she does twice a week, her only physical contact with either of her parents. She has not seen Richard for almost three years since her mother’s arrest at Tehran airport, and has lost the ability to speak English.

The four-year-old also met Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary and MP for South West Surrey, when he visited Iran last November and pushed the Iranian government for Nazanin’s release.

Iranian prosecutors have told Nazanin that her fate is linked to the repayment of a debt owed by Britain to Iran for a cancelled arms deal. Both the British and Iranian governments have denied any link between the cases, however.

But Gabriella has seemingly picked up on the subject from family discussions, telling The Times reporter: “I want to fly to London and get the money and bring it back so mummy can be free.”

Richard would like her to start school in Britain this September, after she has turned five, but no one in the family can contemplate such a move if Nazanin is still detained in Iran.

Gabriella now attends nursery in Tehran after her grandparents found one willing to take her without Iranian identity documents.

But Gabriella has reportedly told her classmates “I don’t have any family,” adding: “My mummy is in prison, my daddy is in London.”

According to The Times, Gabriella is unable to remember a time when she lived with both of her parents together, and when she speaks to her father over the internet, they now need a relative to translate between Farsi and English.

Gabriella’s only remaining English words are “mummy”, “daddy”, “hello”, “cheers” and “I love you so much”.

Last year she was able to spend three whole days with her mum after she was temporarily released from jail. They were inseparable during that time, sharing a bed every night.

But the pain caused by Nazanin returning to jail was so great that she has vowed she won’t repeat the experience unless she knows she’s not going back.

Now she visits her mum twice a week, every Wednesday and Sunday.

Despite being just four years old, Gabriella is searched thoroughly every time she enters the jail – and when she was younger, even her nappy was searched.

Even her Elsa Frozen doll, a gift from her British grandparents, has to remain in the car during her visits.

“My mummy doesn’t have a lot of books in prison,” she told The Times. Speaking after visiting her mum, she said: “I drew a picture of three people for her. Mummy, daddy and me.”

On her visits she sits with her mum, often drawing. When she leaves, she calls: “Goodbye mummy, I love you”.

Nazanin had been working in an admin role for the Thomson Reuters Foundation but had gone to Iran to visit her family when she was arrested.

The charges were related to her previous employment at the BBC World Service which provided training to Iranian journalists.

She has now served more than half of her five year sentence but faces additional charges of spreading propaganda.