Five Japanese Red Army members will probably stay in Lebanon for the time being even though their three-year prison terms expired at midnight Tuesday, Lebanese officials said.
A Beirut court has ordered that the five -- Kozo Okamoto, 52, Masao Adachi, 60, Kazuo Tohira, 47, Haruo Wako, 51, and Mariko Yamamoto, 59 -- be deported after completing their terms, but the government has had difficulty getting a third country to accept them, according to the officials.
The government endorsed the court's deportation order March 1, rejecting Tokyo's request to extradite the five to Japan after their terms had expired.
One of the five met a representative from a European country Tuesday but they failed to strike a deal on the deportation issue because the inmate still wants political asylum in Lebanon, Lebanese Prosecutor General Adnan Addoum said.