RUTHFULLY YOURS

Late last month Julian Assange secured a million-dollar advance from two publishers to write his autobiography. The WikiLeaks founder says he needs the money to cover the legal expenses arising from charges that he raped two women in Sweden. But perhaps Mr. Assange would do better to defend himself and pay the lawyers’ fees of the people now in legal jeopardy thanks to his wanton disclosures.

One worthy candidate is Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s long-time opposition leader and now its powerless Prime Minister. Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Zimbabwe Attorney General Johannes Tomana, a loyalist to despot Robert Mugabe, has assembled an “expert panel” to review 3,000 U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks for evidence that Mr. Tsvangirai committed treason. “Treason,” AP adds, “carries a possible death sentence in Zimbabwe.”

The charge that hangs most heavily on Mr. Tsvangirai’s head is that he privately urged Western diplomats to maintain sanctions on Zimbabwe—sanctions that target Mr. Mugabe’s cronies—even though the Prime Minister has opposed those sanctions in public. Maybe Mr. Assange imagines that he’s usefully exposed a case of blatant political hypocrisy. The rest of us are more likely to forgive Mr. Tsvangirai for trying to help his country in private while having no choice but to concede in public to a desperate political reality.

This is not the first time the regime has sought to indict Mr. Tsvangirai for treason, and no doubt it would resort to other dirty tricks were it not for the convenience of the leaked cables. But there’s no doubt, either, that Mr. Assange has made the regime’s work that much easier. Even a million for Mr. Tsvangirai’s defense wouldn’t begin to cover WikiLeaks’ collateral damage.

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