diff --git a/config/action.d/nginx-block-map.conf b/config/action.d/nginx-block-map.conf
index 0b6aa0ad..ee702907 100644
--- a/config/action.d/nginx-block-map.conf
+++ b/config/action.d/nginx-block-map.conf
@@ -103,6 +103,8 @@ actionstop = %(actionflush)s
 
 actioncheck = 
 
-actionban = echo "\\\\<fid> 1;" >> '%(blck_lst_file)s'; %(blck_lst_reload)s
+_echo_blck_row = printf '\%%s 1;\n' "<fid>"
 
-actionunban = id=$(echo "<fid>" | sed -e 's/[]\/$*.^|[]/\\&/g'); sed -i "/^\\\\$id 1;$/d" %(blck_lst_file)s; %(blck_lst_reload)s
+actionban = %(_echo_blck_row)s >> '%(blck_lst_file)s'; %(blck_lst_reload)s
+
+actionunban = id=$(%(_echo_blck_row)s | sed -e 's/[]\/$*.^|[]/\\&/g'); sed -i "/^$id$/d" %(blck_lst_file)s; %(blck_lst_reload)s
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/filtertestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/filtertestcase.py
index 790ea417..d5f78dee 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/filtertestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/filtertestcase.py
@@ -2064,6 +2064,7 @@ class DNSUtilsNetworkTests(unittest.TestCase):
 		)
 
 	def testIPAddr_CompareDNS(self):
+		unittest.F2B.SkipIfNoNetwork()
 		ips = IPAddr('example.com')
 		self.assertTrue(IPAddr("93.184.216.34").isInNet(ips))
 		self.assertTrue(IPAddr("2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946").isInNet(ips))
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):