Australian boy, 14, held on Bali drugs charge

Australia is trying to secure the return of a 14-year-old boy arrested in Indonesia for alleged marijuana possession, the Australian foreign minister has said.
The boy has been held at Denpasar police headquarters in Bali since he was arrested on Tuesday accused of buying a small quantity of marijuana from a man on Kuta beach.
His lawyer, Muhammad Rifan, said he faced a maximum sentence of six years in an adult prison if convicted of possessing 7g of marijuana, which under Indonesian law is treated the same as heroin or cocaine.
Kevin Rudd, the Australian foreign minister, said he had sent Australia's ambassador to Denpasar. "I've indicated to him that his number one priority in the immediate period ahead is how we support this young boy and his family and do everything we can to obtain his early return to Australia," Rudd told reporters in Sydney.
The boy, from Morrisset Park north of Sydney, was on holiday with his parents when he was arrested.
Rifan said Julian McMahon, an Australian lawyer representing two Australians on death row in Bali for smuggling heroin in 2005, said the boy might only get a few months' jail or avoid prison if he could prove he had a drug problem for which he had received counselling. Australian media have reported the boy is the youngest Australian to be arrested under Indonesia's tough drug laws.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the boy told police he bought the marijuana because he felt sorry for the alleged dealer who said he had not eaten for a day.
McMahon said most foreigners were arrested in these circumstances when they bought drugs from police informants.
Indonesia has some of the world's strictest drug laws and people convicted of smuggling or possessing drugs can be executed by firing squad. More than 140 prisoners are on death row in Indonesia, including more than 50 foreigners.
@'The Guardian'