diff --git a/Modules/nismodule.c b/Modules/nismodule.c
index 04d8570..6acab63 100644
--- a/Modules/nismodule.c
+++ b/Modules/nismodule.c
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@
             PyErr_Clear();
             Py_XDECREF(key);
             Py_XDECREF(val);
+            indata->state = PyEval_SaveThread();
             return 1;
         }
         err = PyDict_SetItem(indata->dict, key, val);