[19] In dozens of short, shaky videos which she live-streamed and uploaded on Twitter, YouTube, and other social media,[14][20] she documented overflowing hospitals, empty shops, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (multiple times[21]), crematoria, the detention of independent journalists, and harassment of families of victims of the pandemic seeking accountability.
[23] Another video showed her visiting the police station where Li Wenliang had been reprimanded for spreading word about the outbreak, trying to obtain information about his case.
[20] In an essay posted in late April, she criticized that those who had lost loved ones due to the pandemic were being "oppressed" by authorities, through not being allowed to mourn.
[21] In her last video before her arrest, she criticised the lockdown on Wuhan for being unduly harsh, saying that the government had managed the city with "intimidation and threats", and that this was "truly the tragedy of this country.
[20] Her lawyer, Ren Quanniu, said that Zhang had told him on previous occasions that her hunger strike was to protest against the curtailment of freedom of speech in China, rather than for being released.
[33] The indictment sheet accused Zhang of talking to foreign media such as Radio Free Asia and The Epoch Times, and spreading false information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan.
[5][41] Zhang was hospitalized in Shanghai on 31 July 2021, after staging a long-running hunger strike, according to a message from her mother on Chinese social media.
[5] Subsequently, her health appeared to deteriorate further according to her mother, who told Radio Free Asia that her daughter, with whom she had spoken in a video call on 28 October, could not walk unassisted and was drooping her head.
[50] Then U.S. Ambassdor to China R. Nicholas Burns made a statement on Human Rights Day calling for the release of those "unjustly detained by the PRC", including Zhang.
[8] On 2 June 2023, Zhang and two other human rights figures were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's Chairs Christopher Smith and Jeff Merkley.
An EU foreign policy spokesman, Peter Stano, stated, "according to credible sources, Ms Zhang has been subject to torture and ill-treatment during her detention and her health condition has seriously deteriorated".
[60] On 19 November 2021, the human rights office urged for "Zhang's immediate and unconditional release, at the very least, on humanitarian grounds", and for her to be able to access "urgent life-saving" medical care.
[9][61] on 17 September 2021, a coalition of 45 non-governmental organizations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), called Chinese leader Xi Jinping to be exonerated and for Zhang s "immediate" release due to her health condition.
RSF's East Asia bureau head Cédric Alviani said that Zhang "should never have been arrested, let alone subjected to a harsh prison sentence".
[65] On 14 June 2023, Zhang was called for release by a coalition of 42 NGOs, including Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc., in their joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's before his visit to China.
[67] An indictment dated 15 September 2020, which became known on 13 November 2020, said that through accepting interviews from foreign media outlets such as Radio Free Asia and the Epoch Times, Zhang had "maliciously hype[d] up the situation in Wuhan, reaching a wide audience and causing a negative impact.
"[67] On 20 November 2021, the diplomatic mission of China at the United Nations in Geneva responded with strong criticism to the statement by the UN human rights office from a day earlier.
[68] The Chinese Embassy in Britain said in a statement on the case of Zhang that the right of prison inmates to receive medical attention was "fully guaranteed", and that "anyone who breaches the law shall be sanctioned accordingly.