> I was verbally refused entry (as in explicitly they said I would not be let into the country)
> I was finally allowed into the country
With regards to the discussion here, note that you weren't actually denied entry, regardless of how the officer may have phrased it to you verbally. Your permission to enter was withheld for some time and you were given a (very) hard time (as I mentioned can happen in my initial comment), but eventually allowed to go through. If you were actually denied entry, you would've been (say) placed on the next flight back, or left at the airport to figure your way out, or something like that—not taken in for interrogation and eventually let in.
(Obviously what they did to you sounds horrible; I'm not questioning that here. I'm just clarifying that, for the sake of the original discussion and the OP, this this was not a denial of entry, and is of course also unrelated to lack a passport.)
True it was a long-run entry but short-run denial. Although I would call being refused entry for the express reason of denial, followed by a reversal of the decision as a denial + a delay + an acceptance in the country. A right delayed is a right denied and all that, especially if it was delayed for the express purpose of indefinite denial.
> I was finally allowed into the country
With regards to the discussion here, note that you weren't actually denied entry, regardless of how the officer may have phrased it to you verbally. Your permission to enter was withheld for some time and you were given a (very) hard time (as I mentioned can happen in my initial comment), but eventually allowed to go through. If you were actually denied entry, you would've been (say) placed on the next flight back, or left at the airport to figure your way out, or something like that—not taken in for interrogation and eventually let in.
(Obviously what they did to you sounds horrible; I'm not questioning that here. I'm just clarifying that, for the sake of the original discussion and the OP, this this was not a denial of entry, and is of course also unrelated to lack a passport.)