[JURIST] A national of Bahrain, two Pakistani nationals and one Iranian were transferred from US custody [press release] at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] into the hands of their home governments over the weekend, the US Defense Department confirmed Monday. As expected [JURIST report], in addition to the Pakistanis released from Guantanamo, US forces freed six other Pakistanis from the US-controlled Bagram airbase [GlobalSecurity.org backgrounder] in Afghanistan.

The US released 17 detainees [press release] to Afghanistan and Morocco last week and several of the detainees sent to Afghanistan alleged that they had been subjected to mental torture [JURIST report] while held at Guantanamo. Last month, the US released two Kuwaiti nationals after releasing five Afghanistan nationals in August [JURIST reports]. Approximately 435 detainees remain at Guantanamo, with 110 of them deemed eligible for transfer or release. AP has more. IANS has additional coverage.