What really happened to an Italian imam's Facebook page after he posted a photo of nuns on the beach

Last Wednesday the Imam of Florence, Izzeddin Elzir, shared an image on Facebook of habit-wearing nuns on the beach, and the next morning found that his account had been blocked.

The post - which pointed out the hypocrisy of French towns banning burkinis - has been shared more than 3,000 times.

Elzir, who is also president of the Union of Italian Islamic Communities, said that it was "incomprehensible", according to La Repubblica.

I have to send them an ID document to reactivate it. They wanted to make sure it’s my account – it’s a very strange procedure.

The Facebook account was reactivated on Friday morning, according to The Local, and Elzir said he hoped that the affair wasn't because of the photo he posted. "We live in a society of law and freedom," he said.

So what happened? We went to Facebook to find out.

Apparently, Elzir's page was suspended because of a technical problem that flagged it as a fake account.

The account didn't break any Facebook policies and no content triggered the suspension. As soon as the mistake was known, the account was reinstated.

If Elzir's account was shut down because of a particular post - such as the image of nuns on the beach - then he would have been sent a message from Facebook to explain that this was why his account was suspended, indy100 understands.

When it came to why Elzir was asked for ID, Facebook apparently often ask users, whose accounts have been flagged as fake, to confirm their identity in this way.

Facebook have since apologised for any inconvenience Elzir might have experienced.

indy100 contacted Elzir but did not hear back from him in time for publication.

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