The 32-County Sovereignty Movement has described the arrest and charging of Mr Michael McKevitt as a transparent effort to suppress republicans and political dissent at a time of growing dissatisfaction with the Belfast Agreement.
Mr McKevitt, of Dundalk, Co Louth, was charged before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin last Friday with directing terrorist offences and being a member of a group styling itself the IRA.
A statement from the movement criticised the arrest of Ms Bernadette Sands McKevitt - she was subsequently released - and the charging of Mr McKevitt and described it as a campaign to vilify and intimidate the McKevitt family.