diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs
index be34bc823..86797dcf2 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Shared.hs
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ module Text.Pandoc.Shared (
                      camelCaseToHyphenated,
                      toRomanNumeral,
                      escapeURI,
-                     unescapeURI,
                      tabFilter,
                      -- * Pandoc block and inline list processing
                      orderedListMarkers,
@@ -73,11 +72,10 @@ module Text.Pandoc.Shared (
 import Text.Pandoc.Definition
 import Text.Pandoc.Generic
 import qualified Text.Pandoc.UTF8 as UTF8 (readFile)
-import Data.Char ( toLower, isLower, isUpper, isAlpha, isAscii,
-                   isLetter, isDigit )
+import Data.Char ( toLower, isLower, isUpper, isAlpha,
+                   isLetter, isDigit, isSpace )
 import Data.List ( find, isPrefixOf, intercalate )
-import Network.URI ( isAllowedInURI, escapeURIString, unEscapeString )
-import Codec.Binary.UTF8.String ( encodeString, decodeString )
+import Network.URI ( escapeURIString )
 import System.Directory
 import System.FilePath ( (</>) )
 import Data.Generics (Typeable, Data)
@@ -181,16 +179,9 @@ toRomanNumeral x =
               _ | x >= 1    -> "I" ++ toRomanNumeral (x - 1)
               _             -> ""
 
--- | Escape unicode characters in a URI.  Characters that are
--- already valid in a URI, including % and ?, are left alone.
+-- | Escape whitespace in URI.
 escapeURI :: String -> String
-escapeURI = escapeURIString isAllowedInURI . encodeString
-
--- | Unescape unicode and some special characters in a URI, but
--- without introducing spaces.
-unescapeURI :: String -> String
-unescapeURI = escapeURIString (\c -> isAllowedInURI c || not (isAscii c)) .
-               decodeString . unEscapeString
+escapeURI = escapeURIString (not . isSpace)
 
 -- | Convert tabs to spaces and filter out DOS line endings.
 -- Tabs will be preserved if tab stop is set to 0.
@@ -304,9 +295,9 @@ consolidateInlines (Str x : ys) =
      fromStr (Str z) = z
      fromStr _       = error "consolidateInlines - fromStr - not a Str"
 consolidateInlines (Space : ys) = Space : rest
-   where isSpace Space = True
-         isSpace _     = False
-         rest          = consolidateInlines $ dropWhile isSpace ys
+   where isSp Space = True
+         isSp _     = False
+         rest       = consolidateInlines $ dropWhile isSp ys
 consolidateInlines (Emph xs : Emph ys : zs) = consolidateInlines $
   Emph (xs ++ ys) : zs
 consolidateInlines (Strong xs : Strong ys : zs) = consolidateInlines $
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/AsciiDoc.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/AsciiDoc.hs
index ab2b01656..f45c20e9e 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/AsciiDoc.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/AsciiDoc.hs
@@ -336,12 +336,11 @@ inlineToAsciiDoc _ (RawInline _ _) = return empty
 inlineToAsciiDoc _ (LineBreak) = return $ " +" <> cr
 inlineToAsciiDoc _ Space = return space
 inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Cite _ lst) = inlineListToAsciiDoc opts lst
-inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Link txt (src', _tit)) = do
+inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Link txt (src, _tit)) = do
 -- relative:  link:downloads/foo.zip[download foo.zip]
 -- abs:  http://google.cod[Google]
 -- or my@email.com[email john]
   linktext <- inlineListToAsciiDoc opts txt
-  let src = unescapeURI src'
   let isRelative = ':' `notElem` src
   let prefix = if isRelative
                   then text "link:"
@@ -353,7 +352,7 @@ inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Link txt (src', _tit)) = do
   return $ if useAuto
               then text srcSuffix
               else prefix <> text src <> "[" <> linktext <> "]"
-inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Image alternate (src', tit)) = do
+inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Image alternate (src, tit)) = do
 -- image:images/logo.png[Company logo, title="blah"]
   let txt = if (null alternate) || (alternate == [Str ""])
                then [Str "image"]
@@ -362,7 +361,6 @@ inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Image alternate (src', tit)) = do
   let linktitle = if null tit
                      then empty
                      else text $ ",title=\"" ++ tit ++ "\""
-  let src = unescapeURI src'
   return $ "image:" <> text src <> "[" <> linktext <> linktitle <> "]"
 inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Note [Para inlines]) =
   inlineToAsciiDoc opts (Note [Plain inlines])
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Markdown.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Markdown.hs
index 42a59cc5f..70202294f 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Markdown.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Markdown.hs
@@ -493,12 +493,11 @@ inlineToMarkdown opts (Cite (c:cs) lst)
         modekey SuppressAuthor = "-"
         modekey _              = ""
 inlineToMarkdown _ (Cite _ _) = return $ text ""
-inlineToMarkdown opts (Link txt (src', tit)) = do
+inlineToMarkdown opts (Link txt (src, tit)) = do
   linktext <- inlineListToMarkdown opts txt
   let linktitle = if null tit
                      then empty
                      else text $ " \"" ++ tit ++ "\""
-  let src = unescapeURI src'
   let srcSuffix = if isPrefixOf "mailto:" src then drop 7 src else src
   let useRefLinks = writerReferenceLinks opts
   let useAuto = case (tit,txt) of
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Org.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Org.hs
index f7f314428..6e0fb98e1 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Org.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Org.hs
@@ -272,8 +272,7 @@ inlineToOrg (Link txt (src, _)) = do
         _ -> do contents <- inlineListToOrg txt
                 modify $ \s -> s{ stLinks = True }
                 return $ "[[" <> text src <> "][" <> contents <> "]]"
-inlineToOrg (Image _ (source', _)) = do
-  let source = unescapeURI source'
+inlineToOrg (Image _ (source, _)) = do
   modify $ \s -> s{ stImages = True }
   return $ "[[" <> text source <> "]]"
 inlineToOrg (Note contents) = do 
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/RST.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/RST.hs
index 4cf64c267..0f0479e16 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/RST.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/RST.hs
@@ -298,9 +298,8 @@ inlineToRST Space = return space
 inlineToRST (Link [Code _ str] (src, _)) | src == str ||
                                            src == "mailto:" ++ str = do
   let srcSuffix = if isPrefixOf "mailto:" src then drop 7 src else src
-  return $ text $ unescapeURI srcSuffix
-inlineToRST (Link txt (src', tit)) = do
-  let src = unescapeURI src'
+  return $ text srcSuffix
+inlineToRST (Link txt (src, tit)) = do
   useReferenceLinks <- get >>= return . writerReferenceLinks . stOptions
   linktext <- inlineListToRST $ normalizeSpaces txt
   if useReferenceLinks
@@ -311,8 +310,7 @@ inlineToRST (Link txt (src', tit)) = do
             modify $ \st -> st { stLinks = refs' }
             return $ "`" <> linktext <> "`_"
     else return $ "`" <> linktext <> " <" <> text src <> ">`_"
-inlineToRST (Image alternate (source', tit)) = do
-  let source = unescapeURI source'
+inlineToRST (Image alternate (source, tit)) = do
   pics <- get >>= return . stImages
   let labelsUsed = map fst pics 
   let txt = if null alternate || alternate == [Str ""] ||
diff --git a/tests/markdown-reader-more.native b/tests/markdown-reader-more.native
index e5e079e9f..3b2221d7b 100644
--- a/tests/markdown-reader-more.native
+++ b/tests/markdown-reader-more.native
@@ -29,9 +29,9 @@
 ,Para [Str "`",Str "hi"]
 ,Para [Str "there",Str "`"]
 ,Header 2 [Str "Multilingual",Space,Str "URLs"]
-,Para [Link [Code ("",["url"],[]) "http://\27979.com?\27979=\27979"] ("http://%E6%B5%8B.com?%E6%B5%8B=%E6%B5%8B","")]
-,Para [Link [Str "foo"] ("/bar/%E6%B5%8B?x=%E6%B5%8B","title")]
-,Para [Link [Code ("",["url"],[]) "\27979@foo.\27979.baz"] ("mailto:%E6%B5%8B@foo.%E6%B5%8B.baz","")]
+,Plain [RawInline "html" "<http://\27979.com?\27979=\27979>"]
+,Para [Link [Str "foo"] ("/bar/\27979?x=\27979","title")]
+,Para [Link [Code ("",["url"],[]) "\27979@foo.\27979.baz"] ("mailto:\27979@foo.\27979.baz","")]
 ,Header 2 [Str "Numbered",Space,Str "examples"]
 ,OrderedList (1,Example,TwoParens)
  [[Plain [Str "First",Space,Str "example",Str "."]]