Cuba ? The U.S. Department of Defense announced Saturday that it transferred six detainees out of Guantanamo, leaving about 245 at the offshore prison as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office.

Four detainees were sent to Iraq, one to Algeria and one to Afghanistan after a series of reviews, the Defense Department said in a statement. Obama has vowed to close the detention center in southeast Cuba and stop the military commissions, or war-crimes trials.

Still, military judges rejected last-minute requests to postpone pretrial hearings scheduled to begin Monday for five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks and a Canadian accused of killing an American soldier with a grenade in Afghanistan.

Defense lawyers have sought to halt the cases — or at least delay them pending a review by the Obama administration.

And the chief prosecutor, Army Col. Lawrence Morris, said the prosecution was seeking a brief delay for “efficiency” and legal reasons.