diff --git a/Modules/binascii.c b/Modules/binascii.c
index 7e03799..0cd8ffc 100644
--- a/Modules/binascii.c
+++ b/Modules/binascii.c
@@ -753,6 +753,7 @@
 	d = PyModule_GetDict(m);
 	x = PyString_FromString(doc_binascii);
 	PyDict_SetItemString(d, "__doc__", x);
+	Py_XDECREF(x);
 
 	Error = PyString_FromString("binascii.Error");
 	PyDict_SetItemString(d, "Error", Error);