Rabbi Henry Sobel, a Brazilian human rights activist who led Latin America’s largest liberal Jewish congregation and who drew wide attention for defying his country’s dictatorship in the aftermath of a notorious political killing, died Nov. 22 in Miami. He was 75.

Rabbi Sobel, a Lisbon native, was a national figure in his adopted homeland, his counsel sought by presidents, popes and the Dalai Lama. He came to prominence in Brazil in 1975 after Vladimir Herzog, the news director of a São Paulo television station was murdered in prison by his military torturers. The dictatorship falsely claimed that Mr. Herzog had committed suicide, an act that would have relegated his burial to a remote corner of the cemetery. But Rabbi Sobel chose to inter Mr. Herzog at the center of the cemetery with full rites.

Days later, he led an interfaith service in honor of Mr. Herzog with Catholic and Protestant clergy by his side. Thousands turned out for the service and stood in silent protest in a rare display of defiance against the despotic military leaders who would run Brazil for another decade.