RUTHFULLY YOURS

The late Andrei Sakharov was among the Soviet Union’s most famous dissidents. So it’s fitting that a prestigious award bestowed in his name by the European Parliament should this year recognize the courage and dignity of Arabs who marched, suffered and sometimes died to shake the yoke of despotism. It’s also a pity the award-givers didn’t do a better job distinguishing between genuine human-rights champions and agitators of violent bent.

Take Asmaa Mahfouz, who was among this year’s five prize-winners. In early January she posted a video blog calling for protests against Hosni Mubarak. “If you consider yourself a man,” she said, “come and join me.” Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian men—and women—did, and a few weeks later the Mubarak regime was history.

Ms. Mahfouz’s call to action deserves respect. Less deserving are her views about Israelis—”Let them vanish, why should we care, it is our land!”—and about how the future Egypt should behave toward its neighbor: “When Egypt becomes strong, we will liberate Palestine.” She has also warned, in the context of Egypt’s internal politics, that “if the judiciary doesn’t give us our rights, nobody should be surprised if militant groups appear and conduct a series of assassinations because there is no law and there is no judiciary.”

Revolutions always begin with bright hopes but too often descend into tyranny and chaos. What makes the difference between, say, the American and French Revolution is the care leaders take to temper the violent impulses of their followers. This year’s Sakharov prize went to some deserving recipients, including Ahmed Senussi, who spent decades as a political prisoner in Libya, and Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian vendor whose self-immolation set the Arab revolts in motion. Awarding Ms. Mahfouz the prize gives legitimacy to the revolts’ more dangerous tendencies.