A number of Western governments and human rights organisations called for the release of group members on the grounds that they were political prisoners.

[5] The protests culminated in the 1990 general election, in which Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party the National League for Democracy won 392 of 492 available seats.

[8][11] An analyst for The Asia Times described them as "not a political party, but rather a movement comprising a generation of students who were active during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising".

[12] In October 2006, the group traveled the country, dressed symbolically in white, to gather signatures on a petition calling for the release of all Burma's alleged political prisoners.

[14] The largest of these rallies drew over one hundred thousand protesters, most notably a number of Buddhist monks, giving the uprising the popular nickname "The Saffron Revolution" for the colour of their robes.

[8] Nilar Thein's long evasion of state security forces also received continuing international press coverage, as she had to leave her four-month-old daughter with relatives to hide safely.

[27][28] Human Rights Watch stated its belief that the group members were political prisoners and called for their immediate and unconditional release,[29] as did Front Line.

[31] In November 2010, the nations of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain and the US submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations calling by name for Burma to release Min Ko Naing and other pro-democracy activists, among numerous other human-rights-related demands.

[34] That same year, the US State Department warned that Min Ko Naing was reported to be at risk of blindness due to prison authorities deliberately withholding medical treatment.