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No evidence for Clarke child sex allegations: S Lanka govt
Monday, 24 March 2008 - 9:29 PM SL Time
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Sri Lankan authorities said that the British-born sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke had been cleared of decade-old paedophile allegations before his death last week.
Clarke was buried Saturday in Colombo, where he had lived since 1956. Obituary writers have resurrected the 1998 accusations that he had sex with young boys in his adopted country Sri Lanka.
But the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) chief, Jagath Wellawatte, said Sunday there was no case against the writer, who captured the world`s imagination with `2001: A Space Odyssey` and visions of extra-terrestrial civilisations.
`We had no case against Clarke and no one had come forward to say they were abused by him,` Wellawatte told AFP. The agency was established under new child protection laws enacted after the allegations against Clarke surfaced.
`We have not had any formal complaint or testimony from anyone saying they were abused by Sir Arthur,` said NCPA investigator W.T.D. Wijesena. `We cannot go on the basis of rumours.`
The forerunner to the NCPA, the Presidential Task Force on the Prevention of Child Abuse, had in 1998 initiated an investigation into Clarke`s conduct with the help of Interpol.
Police spent two and a half hours recording a statement from Clarke in 1998, but no charges were brought against him.
Clarke, who died Wednesday at age 90, vehemently denied the allegations and also threatened to sue the British newspaper which made the charges following a `sting operation` by two undercover reporters.
Clarke said at the time that he was `disturbed to discover that there has been a long-standing conspiracy here in Sri Lanka to discredit him ... involving activists associated with child welfare organisations.`
The accusations surfaced while Britain`s Prince Charles was visiting Colombo and was due to confer a knighthood on Clarke. The investiture was eventually held two years later.
Upon Clarke`s death, there were no official condolences from London, and the High Commission or embassy in Colombo only briefly noted Clarke`s death with `sadness` on its website.
`Even in death, the sage of science fiction could not shake off the accusations of paedophilia levelled against him,` wrote British newspaper The Times.
Children`s rights groups in Sri Lanka, which were quite vocal when the allegetions were first levelled, have largely remained silent following Clarke`s death.
`It is a cultural practice here that we don`t speak ill of the dead,` said Sunanda Deshapriya, director of the private Centre for Policy Alternatives think tank.
`They may also feel that the celebrity status of Clarke will have some reflected glory on Sri Lanka, and to criticise him now would be to take away some of that shine.`
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gchula99
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 348
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 24 Mar 2008 20:27:51 GMT Report for Abuse
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Not only Carke there were and are many more people under this category survive without any allegation because of the back boneless nature of the Sri Lankans.
I can give you many more examples
1) one of the principle of the famous nursing school.
2) Famous general surgeon worked in the Colombo General Hospital.
3) One of the highest order religious leader.
Non of them had any allegations over the issue.Does it mean they are clean.
What steps Jagath has taken to inquire those rumors.
I believe it is best for all of us to keep our mouth shut for the interest of dead and gone.Any attempt to whitewash will lead many more to surface. |
Karunawardana
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 239
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 25 Mar 2008 03:22:24 GMT Report for Abuse
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So what is the problem? National Child Protection Agency will act if the subject is under age.
If not why all this rumpus. Homosexuality is accepted in Sri Lanka and we have an Organisation protecting their rights.
If Clarke had relationship with anyone who is a major there is no case.
All so called Saints should let him Rest in Peace.
He greatness will not diminish just because he did not allegedly sleep with women! |
Goodfinger
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 108
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25 Mar 2008 04:43:10 GMT Report for Abuse
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From a TAPED interview in 1998:
Reporter Graham Johnson (J) is quizzing Clarke (C) about his activities.
J: What's the youngest person you've had?
C: I couldn't...You're asking me to get....
J: I know it's not 10 and 11, but maybe 13, 14, 15?
C: I couldn't say. You can never judge. But no one that isn't old enough to know his own mind. And most of them had reached puberty.
J: If one of them was 13, how did you judge?
C: If he really was 13 he will be a very mature 13.
J: You don't think that's morally wrong?
C: No. I mean. It depends on the country. You can't have an absolute morality.
Classy.
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Magnum357
Joined: Oct 2007
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25 Mar 2008 10:34:55 GMT Report for Abuse
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Karunawardena,
Homosexuality is accepted in Sri Lanka
If Clarke had a relationship with a major there is no case
Nonsence. It's prohibited under s365 of the Penal Code carrying a 10 year jail sentence if it involves adults and a maximum 20 year jail sentence in the case of paedophilia. These are apart from the fines, and the compensation payable in the case of paedophilia.
However there is a lobby group fighting to get homosexualtiy amongst consenting adults de-criminalised in Sri Lanka.
Edited By - Magnum357 - 25 Mar 2008 12:29:43 GMT |
Sintamus
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2656
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 25 Mar 2008 11:29:02 GMT Report for Abuse
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| After the bullets that army normally use in their guns were swapped with those removed from the 17 aid workers the army killed in Vakarai there is no 'evidence' of army's complicity in the murders. |
cartoon
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 137
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 25 Mar 2008 14:56:48 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Does anyone know why his house in Colombo is called LESLEY'S HOUSE? |
kiora
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Posts: 95
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 25 Mar 2008 23:57:52 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Who is a major is that some one from the army. Clark's feeble accuse of 13year old as a mature adult is a excuse most of the pedophiles use world over.This remind me of discussion I had with one Sri Lankan supporter of Mapplethorpe's photograph of a young girl under 10 years of age sitting on step without under garments partly expos, for this his excuse was that is art. He is a parent of teenage daughter at the time. |
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