An intellectually disabled Australian man could face the death penalty after reportedly being charged with smuggling drugs in China.

Lawyers for Ibrahim Jalloh, 26, claim he was tricked into smuggling more than two kilograms of ice out of Guangzhou last June by an international syndicate who took advantage of his disability, Fairfax Media reports.

But Chinese prosecutors presented a medical appraisal showing the Brisbane man was only slightly developmentally delayed and therefore capable of bearing criminal liability, meaning he could be executed if found guilty, during a hearing on Friday.

Jalloh and fellow Australian Bengali Sherrif were arrested by Chinese authorities at Guangzhou airport in June 2014, the ABC reported.

Sherrif was sentenced to a suspended death penalty for attempting to smuggle methamphetamine from China to Australia, which could be commuted to life in prison after two years of good behaviour.