I assume your comment was not meant to come off as hostile, but please don't use the word 'rape' to refer to things other than sexual violence. Doing so creates a hostile environment and minimizes the experiences of rape victims.
The data doesn't erase itself. The phone, in its original state, erases its copy of the data, but that doesn't help if you're operating with (a) a copy of the data, or (b) a modified phone, which is likely given an adversary that doesn't find cracking 10,000 PIN combinations to be a significant hurdle.
Actually, the data is encrypted firstly with a per-device key that is unique to the phone and unable to be accessed directly (unless you want to go decapping chips), then additionally with a hash of your pin or password. A copy of the data is useless unless you can get to it in an already unlocked state. An erase firstly deletes the encryption key entirely then begins a secure erase in the background.
Regardless of whether you think WikiLeaks is engaged in "true journalism", the activities referred to in the article took place before the cable dump in November 2010.
