Eternal punishment from mother country (9)
I believe the answer is:
damnation
'eternal punishment' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'mother country' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'dam' (female parent of an animal).
'country' becomes 'nation' ('nation' can be a synonym of 'country').
'dam'+'nation'='DAMNATION'
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for damnation that I've seen before include "Hopeless situation" , "Eternal punishment" , "Denouncing" , "Curse" , "Mild oath" .)