diff --git a/fail2ban/helpers.py b/fail2ban/helpers.py
index 213a405f..241543c1 100644
--- a/fail2ban/helpers.py
+++ b/fail2ban/helpers.py
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ def splitwords(s):
 	"""
 	if not s:
 		return []
-	return filter(bool, map(str.strip, re.split('[ ,\n]+', s)))
+	return filter(bool, map(lambda v: v.strip(), re.split('[ ,\n]+', s)))
 
 if sys.version_info >= (3,5):
 	eval(compile(r'''if 1:
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/misctestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/misctestcase.py
index cd27ad92..9b986f53 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/misctestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/misctestcase.py
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ class HelpersTest(unittest.TestCase):
 		self.assertEqual(splitwords(' 1, 2 , '), ['1', '2'])
 		self.assertEqual(splitwords(' 1\n  2'), ['1', '2'])
 		self.assertEqual(splitwords(' 1\n  2, 3'), ['1', '2', '3'])
+		# string as unicode:
+		self.assertEqual(splitwords(u' 1\n  2, 3'), ['1', '2', '3'])
 
 
 if sys.version_info >= (2,7):