diff --git a/iwlib/utils.h b/iwlib/utils.h
index fc37ea2..0589c82 100644
--- a/iwlib/utils.h
+++ b/iwlib/utils.h
@@ -13,8 +13,10 @@
 #define SAFE_SETITEMSTRING(dict, key, value) do { \
     PyObject *__tmp; \
     __tmp = value; \
-    if (__tmp) \
+    if (__tmp) { \
         PyDict_SetItemString(dict, key, __tmp); \
+	Py_DECREF(__tmp); \
+    } \
 } while(0)