Mainlanders detained for overstaying said yesterday they had been subjected to humiliating treatment, with one man forced to do squatting exercises in the nude. Some of the 179 overstayers - released on Thursday after the Government lost a court battle - said they were strip searched and could not make phone calls until the end of the second day of detention. Wu Ching-cun, 32, said two guards ordered him to strip and squat up and down about 15 times in a heavily air-conditioned room. 'After two or three times, I told them 'It's really cold. Can I stop?' They said no and told me to keep doing it,' said Mr Wu, who was held in the Ma Tau Wai immigration detention centre in To Kwa Wan. 'After about 15 times, they let me stop.' The guards then asked him to sign a form stating he was not abused, he said. 'I was scared. I didn't know what they would do to me so I just signed whatever they told me to sign.' Those arrested on Tuesday said pregnant women were not allowed to call home to let their family know they were all right until late into their detention. They said guards tried to pressure them into going back to the mainland, telling them they would not be allowed to come back even for a visit otherwise. Li Xuan, a 25-year-old woman, said she and other detainees went on hunger strike. 'We ate only the first meal we were served after being arrested and we didn't eat for the remainder of the two days we were detained,' she said. An Immigration Department spokesman said yesterday that strip searches were generally not conducted and he was not aware of any abuse. 'We'll look into this,' he said. 'At this point, we haven't found any violations of our detention guidelines. 'In the time they were detained, we did not receive any complaints.' He said the 70 or so people held in Ma Tau Wai might have had to wait their turn to use the phone because there were so many of them. But a leader of the mainlanders said at least 10 men had told her they had to strip and exercise nude. Women also had to strip but were not asked to exercise. Rob Brook, a lawyer representing the mainlanders, was shocked at the claims. Strip searches were not routine for immigrants, who were not charged with a crime and kept only in administrative detention. 'You have to have a good reason for a strip search in the first place and after you make them do it. You certainly can't make them squat up and down, and you certainly can't make them do it in a heavily air-conditioned environment,' he said.