A former Sunday Independent columnist who was sacked after it emerged he was linked to tweets which targeted prominent journalists has said he makes "no apology" for the account.
Eoghan Harris (78) said he was among six people involved in the Barbara J Pym account.
It has since been suspended by Twitter along with several others linked to it.
Allison Morris, a former Irish News journalist now working for the Belfast Telegraph, said she suffered "sustained and obsessive attacks" via anonymous accounts while Aoife Moore, a Derry-born political correspondent for the Irish Examiner, said she was abused in more than 120 tweets from two separate accounts in just 12 months.
Both women have now launched legal proceedings against Mr Harris and Twitter.
In a letter to The Irish Times on Saturday, Mr Harris said he makes "no apology for my Twitter account".
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He said "Sinn Féin trolls" had used "Twitter to spread the smear that I sent Irish Examiner journalist Aoife Grace Moore multiple sexualised private messages from multiple accounts".
He said he had used a "common figure of speech", adding that the messages had "no sexual connotations". He also denied he had called her a "terrorist".
"Sinn Féin has mobilised its social media army to gender a political issue and ruin my reputation by depicting me as a misogynist," he wrote.
"I have only one Twitter account, Barbara J Pym. I suspect the other accounts were suspended because they supported my anti-Sinn Féin views.
"In fact I only know two of these suspended account holders, both strong women, who share my loathing of Sinn Féin and are well able to articulate that abhorrence.
"One is my sister, Bridget McIntyre, the other is 'Dolly White' who tells me she’s soon going public because she’s sick of the misogynistic smear that she is really me".
He said he had set up an anonymous account as his column "could not concentrate on Northern Ireland and I was desperate to find a wider platform to reach out to unionists and fight Sinn Féin.
"Barbara J Pym was no trolling account," he claimed.
"One of the reasons I used a pseudonym was because my own name would filter how my tweets were received. I wanted to be read with an open mind".
He added: "In the limited time left to me, I wanted to be honest.
"That is why I honestly unmasked myself as Barbara J Pym," he wrote.
"Likewise, I honestly believe any tweets I sent to women journalists were neither sexual nor abusive but political in aim.
"Yes, I accept women journalists are often unfairly targeted online – but this does not make them immune to criticism. Political journalism requires a level of robustness.
"I make no apology for my Twitter account".
