BEIRUT -- With just days left before five Japanese Red Army members are due to be released here, local and foreign press interest in the captives is heating up.

And the aging terrorists and their supporters are making the most of the situation.

There was strong evidence Tuesday morning of how important media attention is to the group when a stalemate ensued between journalists, prison authorities and a Muslim priest at Roumieh prison, where two of the five -- Kozo Okamoto, 52, and 47-year-old Kazuo Tohira -- were scheduled to convert to Islam.