At Human Rights Watch’s annual dinner tonight at the American Museum of Natural History the group is honoring three human rights defenders from Sudan, Iran, and Uganda “in recognition of their extraordinary contributions to the human rights movement.” Two of the honorees, Salih Mahmoud Osman from Sudan and Omid Memarian from Iran, stopped by our offices yesterday.

Mr. Osman, a lawyer from Darfur, told The New York Sun that “the people of Darfur appreciate the Sun’s coverage” of their plight. Mr. Osman, himself imprisoned last year for seven months and four days for his activism, told the Sun of Darfurians’ outrage that the Sudanese government is set to assume the rotating head of the African Union in January. This would give Khartoum, which has been complicit in the genocide in Darfur, leadership over the AU troops that are meant to be protecting Darfurians. Mr. Osman told the Sun that it is up to South Africa and Nigeria to show the necessary leadership and block this farcical and downright dangerous scenario from occurring.

Mr. Osman told the Sun that the people of Darfur “can never forgive or forget” how Russia and China have been making deals with the Sudanese government – selling fighter planes and buying oil, respectively – at the “expense of their lives.” He told the Sun that one way to pressure and diplomatically embarrass Khartoum would be to introduce targeted sanctions, such as travel bans and asset freezes, on top officials in the Sudanese government. He reminded us that while the wide-scale ethnic cleansing has stopped, the refugee crisis persists, with 2 million displaced residents of the Darfur region of Sudan living in refugee camps. The perpetrators of the genocide, meanwhile, are still in power as the government of Sudan.

Mr. Memarian, an Iranian journalist and blogger, told the Sun that he had been arrested and put in solitary confinement for 55 days by the theocrats in Tehran last year because of his support for human rights. He told the Sun that there is a strong genuinely reformist movement in Iran but that it will take time to develop. Mr. Memarian criticized existing sanctions against Iran, pointing out, with some reason, that it is self-defeating for American law to bar American Internet host companies from doing business with pro-freedom Iranian bloggers. Mr. Memarian instead recommends “targeted sanctions” and said it is best to “focus on human rights as the weak point of the Islamic regime.”

We don’t always agree with Human Rights Watch or with Mr. Memarian in their criticism of the Bush administration, which unfortunately is often reflexive. Even those who share the goals of increased freedom in Iran and Sudan may disagree over tactics. But risking imprisonment – or worse – to stand up to tyrannical and brutal governments requires a degree of personal bravery and courage and idealism that can be admired by all who love freedom, no matter their political leanings. To change regimes such as those in Tehran and Khartoum and to increase freedom around the world will require risk-taking by many people like Messrs. Osman and Memarian. In the meantime, their example helps inspire us and those still languishing as political prisoners.