BEIRUT, Lebanon

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday hailed a life sentence slapped by a UN-backed court against two Hezbollah members in connection with the 2005 assassination of his father.

Hariri, the head of the Future Movement, said on Twitter that the conviction of the two Hezbollah members was the "clearest condemnation to the group [Hezbollah]" in the assassination of former Premier Rafic Hariri.

"After the conviction of Salim Ayyash in the crime of the assassination of martyr premier Rafic Hariri [...] the Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon unanimously sentenced two other Hezbollah members, Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi, to life imprisonment," Hariri said.

He added that Hezbollah can't evade responsibility of handing over the convicts.

There was no comment, so far, from Hezbollah on Hariri's remarks or the court verdict.

Early on Thursday, the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon sentenced in absentia two members of Hezbollah to life imprisonment for Hariri’s assassination in 2005 along with 22 other people.

In 2020, the court also convicted in absentia Hezbollah member Salim Ayyash, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was formed by a UN resolution in 2007 to probe the assassination and other cases of serious nature in the country.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar