Was [name withheld] being targeted by this same group of people because of her association with my client?

This is very much true, and this was true in her workplace as well. To turn people against her is a powerful way to cause pain, and this is understood. This serves to isolate the victim, and the idea is to undermine their lives, and destroy their happiness by causing them constant worry, and the inability to pursue the normal things of life that can be done freely and easily under normal circumstances, but not engaged in at all when one must hide, and not put others at risk by association.