Japan teenager faces Indonesian jail for marijuana

The 17-year-old, a student at an international high school on the island, was arrested after police found 2.61 grammes (0.09 ounces) of the drug in his trouser pocket.

In a closed-door trial at Denpasar district court, prosecutors charged the teen with drug possession, which carries a sentence of up to 12 years in prison, and drug abuse, which carries up to four years in jail, prosecutor I Wayan Widana told reporters after the trial.

"The defendant had violated Indonesian law for possession of marijuana with the maximum penalty of 12 years," Widana said.

"The defendant also used the drugs himself. Based on his confession, he bought the marijuana for 300,000 rupiah ($31.40)," he added.

Prosecutors said the teenager lived with his mother, a Japanese travel agent who has worked in Bali for more than a decade. His father is in Japan.

During the hearing the boy's lawyers argued that he should be let off as he was a minor.

"At the trial today, we urged the judges and prosecutors to consider his young age," one of the lawyers, Ahmad Hadiana, told reporters.

"As he is still a child, we want him to be returned to his parents because he is only a victim of drug-trafficking," Hadiana said.

The trial will resume on Monday with witness testimonies.

An Indonesian court last November sentenced a 14-year-old Australian boy to two months in jail in Bali for marijuana possession.

He avoided a lengthier sentence due to his youth and his agreement to undergo drug rehabilitation. He had also admitted to possessing the drugs.

Indonesia enforces stiff penalties including life imprisonment and death for drug trafficking.

Two members of an Australian drug smuggling gang known as the "Bali Nine", who were arrested in 2005, are on death row, while seven others face lengthy jail terms.

Another Australian, Schapelle Corby, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for smuggling 4.1 kilos of marijuana in 2005, recently had her term slashed by five years after a clemency appeal to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

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