He was born on April 27, 1980 in Uzbekistan, in the city of Navoi. Four years later, the family moved to Dzhankoy, Crimea. In 2005, he graduated from Odesa National University, majoring in Political Science. He worked as a presenter on the TV channel "ATR", a correspondent of the republican newspaper "Avdet" and taught history and jurisprudence at the Simferopol International School. Married, he and his wife Leviza have four children. In November 2013, after the election of Refat Chubarov as the chairman of the Mejlis, Dzhelal became one of his deputies, heading the information and analytical division of the organization. During the last few years, Dzhelal remained the most senior member of the Mejlis in Crimea and the de facto leader of the organization, informing the world media about the state of the Crimean Tatar people under the conditions of temporary occupation.

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At the end of August 2021, Nariman was a participant of the Crimean Platform international summit. He was detained almost immediately after returning home: on September 3-4, Russian security forces conducted a series of searches in Crimea. Dzhelal and four other Crimean Tatars were taken to an unknown destination. Within a day, it became clear that FSB officers kept Nariman in handcuffs with a bag over his head, exerted psychological pressure and treated him particularly cruelly. Subsequently, the FSB of the Russian Federation published a statement that Dzhelal is suspected of being involved in the gas pipeline explosion that occurred on August 23, 2021 in the village of Perevalny near Simferopol.

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On September 21, 2022, the Russian-controlled "Supreme Court of Crimea" announced the sentence to the first deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, journalist and activist Nariman Dzhelal. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison.