Abdullah Awad Salim Al-Shamsi is an Omani student and human rights defender. He was a 19 year-old high school student in the United Arab Emirates when state security forces arbitrarily arrested him on 18 August 2018 without a judicial warrant, confiscated his electronic devices and held him in secret detention where he was kept in solitary confinement and subjected to torture including beatings, electric shocks, denial of sleep and other abusive methods reportedly designed to force a confession. He was denied meaningful access to legal counsel throughout his prolonged pre-trial detention, and his family did not learn of his whereabouts until 16 September 2018, raising serious concerns about arbitrary detention and denial of due process. On 06 May 2020, the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment on charges including “damage of national or public interest” and “attempted communication with a foreign state” that human rights organisations characterised as unjust and politically motivated. The Federal Supreme Court confirmed the sentence on 10 August 2020, despite his poor health, including depression, kidney cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure, and despite reports by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that his detention was arbitrary and violated international standards. On 17 April 2021, after more than two and a half years in detention, the Emirati authorities released Abdullah Al-Shamsi as part of an amnesty and expelled him to Oman, a development welcomed by civil society advocates who had campaigned vigorously for his freedom while condemning the unfair trial and severe mistreatment he endured in custody.