Human rights are applicable for everyone including those who are mentally ill. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and attitude of nursing students at Universiti Sains Malaysia regarding human rights of mentally ill patient. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted by a simple random sampling technique on 214 nursing students. The data were collected by a self-administered questionnaire consisting of demographic variables, the knowledge and attitude regarding human rights of mentally ill patients. The findings revealed that majority of nursing students in a public university Malaysia had good knowledge with percentage of 54.7% (n=117) and positive attitude with percentage of 94.4% (n=202) regarding human rights of mentally ill patient. Increasing the knowledge and attitude regarding human rights of mentally ill patient among future nurses might help in better delivery of care as well as improving the quality of life of the patients.