diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 9238dcc6..8143e16a 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+Wed Mar 12 10:22:01 CET 2008 Daniel Veillard <daniel@veillard.com>
+
+	* python/types.c: fix a memory errro when using namespace nodes
+	  returned from XPath queries, should fix #521699
+	* python/tests/Makefile.am python/tests/xpathns.py: add a specific
+	  regression test for it
+
 Mon Mar 10 16:25:32 CET 2008 Rob Richards <rrichards@ctindustries.net>
 
 	* include/win32config.h: add ICONV_CONST define for win32 build
diff --git a/python/tests/Makefile.am b/python/tests/Makefile.am
index af23af3d..8a850756 100644
--- a/python/tests/Makefile.am
+++ b/python/tests/Makefile.am
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ PYTESTS=	\
     validDTD.py	\
     validSchemas.py \
     validRNG.py \
-    compareNodes.py
+    compareNodes.py \
+    xpathns.py
 
 XMLS=		\
     tst.xml	\
diff --git a/python/tests/xpathns.py b/python/tests/xpathns.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..e67e5506
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/tests/xpathns.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python -u
+#
+import libxml2
+
+expect=' xmlns:a="urn:whatevar"'
+
+# Memory debug specific
+libxml2.debugMemory(1)
+
+d = libxml2.parseDoc("<a:a xmlns:a='urn:whatevar'/>")
+res=""
+for n in d.xpathEval("//namespace::*"):
+    res = res + n.serialize()
+d.freeDoc()
+
+if res != expect:
+    print "test5 failed: unexpected output"
+    print res
+del res
+del d
+del n
+# Memory debug specific
+libxml2.cleanupParser()
+
+if libxml2.debugMemory(1) == 0:
+    print "OK"
+else:
+    print "Memory leak %d bytes" % (libxml2.debugMemory(1))
+    libxml2.dumpMemory()
diff --git a/python/types.c b/python/types.c
index 9a17749e..80e43041 100644
--- a/python/types.c
+++ b/python/types.c
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
  * daniel@veillard.com
  */
 #include "libxml_wrap.h"
+#include <libxml/xpathInternals.h>
 
 PyObject *
 libxml_intWrap(int val)
@@ -330,6 +331,24 @@ libxml_xmlParserCtxtPtrWrap(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt)
     return (ret);
 }
 
+/**
+ * libxml_xmlXPathDestructNsNode:
+ * cobj: xmlNsPtr namespace node
+ * desc: ignored string
+ *
+ * This function is called if and when a namespace node returned in
+ * an XPath node set is to be destroyed. That's the only kind of
+ * object returned in node set not directly linked to the original
+ * xmlDoc document, see xmlXPathNodeSetDupNs.
+ */
+static void
+libxml_xmlXPathDestructNsNode(void *cobj, void *desc ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED) {
+#ifdef DEBUG
+    fprintf(stderr, "libxml_xmlXPathDestructNsNode called %p\n", cobj);
+#endif
+    xmlXPathNodeSetFreeNs((xmlNsPtr) cobj);
+}
+
 PyObject *
 libxml_xmlXPathObjectPtrWrap(xmlXPathObjectPtr obj)
 {
@@ -380,8 +399,17 @@ libxml_xmlXPathObjectPtrWrap(xmlXPathObjectPtr obj)
                 ret = PyList_New(obj->nodesetval->nodeNr);
                 for (i = 0; i < obj->nodesetval->nodeNr; i++) {
                     node = obj->nodesetval->nodeTab[i];
-                    /* TODO: try to cast directly to the proper node type */
-                    PyList_SetItem(ret, i, libxml_xmlNodePtrWrap(node));
+                    if (node->type == XML_NAMESPACE_DECL) {
+		        PyObject *ns = 
+			    PyCObject_FromVoidPtrAndDesc((void *) node,
+                                     (char *) "xmlNsPtr",
+				     libxml_xmlXPathDestructNsNode);
+			PyList_SetItem(ret, i, ns);
+			/* make sure the xmlNsPtr is not destroyed now */
+			obj->nodesetval->nodeTab[i] = NULL;
+		    } else {
+			PyList_SetItem(ret, i, libxml_xmlNodePtrWrap(node));
+		    }
                 }
             }
             break;