Donaldson was a friend of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands , and the two men served time together in Long Kesh for paramilitary offences in the 1970s . Donaldson has been accused by an unnamed republican source of being part of the IRA team that carried out the La Mon restaurant bombing in 1978 , one of the most notorious bomb attacks of the Troubles . In 1981 , he was arrested by French authorities at Orly airport along with fellow IRA volunteer William " Blue " Kelly ; the duo were using false passports and Donaldson said that they were returning from a guerrilla training camp in Lebanon . At the 1983 general election , Donaldson was the Sinn Féin candidate in Belfast East , but only polled 682 votes . In the late 1980s , he travelled to Lebanon again and held talks with both Lebanese Shia militias , Hezbollah and Amal , in an effort to secure the freedom of Irish hostage Brian Keenan
La Mon restaurant bombing
La Mon restaurant bombing
Denis Donaldson