A U.N.-backed tribunal sentenced a member of the Hizbullah group to life imprisonment Friday for his involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The defendant, Salim Ayyash, has never been arrested and was not in court at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for Friday's sentencing hearing.

Former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil snapped back Thursday at Judicial Investigator Judge Fadi Sawan after the latter charged him with negligence in the ongoing probe into the devastating August 4 explosion at Beirut’s port.

The Consultative Gathering, a grouping of March 8 camp Sunni MPs, on Thursday blasted the lead investigator’s decision to indict caretaker PM Hassan Diab in the port blast investigation.

Lebanon's lead investigator into the catastrophic Beirut port explosion, Judge Fadi Sawan, announced Thursday that he is carrying out the probe “accurately and deliberately,” after he was accused of procrastination by some observers, journalists and political forces.

Ex-PM Najib Miqati on Thursday warned against double standards after Judicial Investigator Judge Fadi Sawan charged caretaker PM Hassan Diab in the ongoing probe into the devastating Beirut port explosion.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab's office said Thursday that the outgoing premier's conscience was clear after he was charged in the Beirut port blast probe.

"He is confident that his hands are clean and that he has handled the Beirut Port blast file in a responsible and transparent manner," it said in a statement.

The lead investigator into a catastrophic August 4 explosion at Beirut port charged outgoing premier Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence Thursday, a judicial source said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday raised doubts a government would be soon formed, despite a format presented by the PM-designate Saad Hariri a day earlier to the president.

Criticisms arose after the presidency’s announcement that a complete government proposal was submitted by the President to the PM-designate during the latter’s visit to Baabda to submit his cabinet line-up, media reports said Thursday.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday received a "full cabinet line-up" from PM-designate Saad Hariri during their meeting in Baabda, the Presidency said.