[10] Along with two other women, she was detained for seven hours on 15 June after trying to hold a sit-in at a United Nations office; having held onto her phone in the detention center, she continued to post updates to her Twitter feed, such as, "I think the UN might have misunderstood, we wanted the release of political prisoners, not to join them ;)".

"[8] On 26 November 2011, a U.S. journalist witnessed al-Khawaja standing her ground alone in front of oncoming riot police; he reported that tear gas shells were being fired just past her head.

[14] Amnesty International designated her a prisoner of conscience "detained solely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression and assembly", and called for her immediate release.

[7] Al-Khawaja's father began a hunger strike on 8 February 2012 which, as of 11 April, had lasted for 110 days, leading to fears for his health and appeals on his behalf from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,[17] the U.S. State Department,[18] and Amnesty International, who named him a prisoner of conscience.

[23] During U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Bahrain in April 2016, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said Zeinab al-Khawaja would be freed although the case against her will continue to be pursued.

[24] On 14 March, fifteen riot police jeeps headed to Zainab's house, closed off the entire street in front of her apartment building, and arrested her along with her one-year-old son.

[25] The announcement that al-Khawaja was set to be released came only hours after British foreign minister Philip Hammond visited Bahrain and praised the country's "commitment to continuing reform".

After the Bahraini authorities told the Danish embassy that they would arrest her if she remained in the kingdom, Al-Hawajah, who has Danish-Bahraini dual citizenship, fled to Denmark immediately upon her release.

[27] Al-Khawaja continues her work abroad alongside her sister, Maryam, who was also exiled several years earlier, in 2014, after the government began prosecuting her in reprisal for her activism.