diff --git a/backport.rhbz650503.patch b/backport.rhbz650503.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a0eedc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backport.rhbz650503.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+Index: src/hunspell/affentry.cxx
+===================================================================
+RCS file: /cvsroot/hunspell/hunspell/src/hunspell/affentry.cxx,v
+retrieving revision 1.5
+diff -u -r1.5 affentry.cxx
+--- src/hunspell/affentry.cxx	27 Apr 2010 15:01:04 -0000	1.5
++++ src/hunspell/affentry.cxx	8 Nov 2010 11:36:57 -0000
+@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
+                 pos = NULL;
+                 p = nextchar(p);
+                 // skip the next character
+-                if (!ingroup) for (st++; (opts & aeUTF8) && (*st & 0xc0) == 0x80; st++);
++                if (!ingroup && *st) for (st++; (opts & aeUTF8) && (*st & 0xc0) == 0x80; st++);
+                 if (*st == '\0' && p) return 0; // word <= condition
+                 break;
+             }
+Index: src/hunspell/hunspell.cxx
+===================================================================
+RCS file: /cvsroot/hunspell/hunspell/src/hunspell/hunspell.cxx,v
+retrieving revision 1.23
+diff -u -r1.23 hunspell.cxx
+--- src/hunspell/hunspell.cxx	3 Nov 2010 16:08:04 -0000	1.23
++++ src/hunspell/hunspell.cxx	8 Nov 2010 11:36:58 -0000
+@@ -570,6 +570,11 @@
+      word = w2;
+   } else word = w;
+ 
++  len = strlen(word);
++
++  if (!len)
++      return NULL;
++
+   // word reversing wrapper for complex prefixes
+   if (complexprefixes) {
+     if (word != w2) {
+@@ -607,7 +612,6 @@
+   // check with affixes
+   if (!he && pAMgr) {
+      // try stripping off affixes */
+-     len = strlen(word);
+      he = pAMgr->affix_check(word, len, 0);
+ 
+      // check compound restriction and onlyupcase
+Index: tests/Makefile.am
+===================================================================
+RCS file: /cvsroot/hunspell/hunspell/tests/Makefile.am,v
+retrieving revision 1.4
+diff -u -r1.4 Makefile.am
+--- tests/Makefile.am	7 Oct 2010 21:05:49 -0000	1.4
++++ tests/Makefile.am	8 Nov 2010 11:36:58 -0000
+@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@
+ fullstrip.test \
+ iconv.test \
+ oconv.test \
+-korean.test
++korean.test \
++arabic.test
+ # infixes.test
+ 
+ distclean-local:
+@@ -593,7 +594,10 @@
+ korean.dic \
+ korean.good \
+ korean.wrong \
+-korean.test
++korean.test \
++arabic.aff \
++arabic.dic \
++arabic.bad
+ # infixes.aff
+ # infixes.dic
+ # infixes.good
+Index: tests/Makefile.in
+===================================================================
+RCS file: /cvsroot/hunspell/hunspell/tests/Makefile.in,v
+retrieving revision 1.8
+diff -u -r1.8 Makefile.in
+--- tests/Makefile.in	7 Oct 2010 21:05:49 -0000	1.8
++++ tests/Makefile.in	8 Nov 2010 11:36:58 -0000
+@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@
+ SUBDIRS = suggestiontest
+ XFAIL_TESTS = @XFAILED@
+ TESTS = \
++arabic.test \
+ affixes.test \
+ condition.test \
+ condition_utf.test \
+@@ -379,7 +380,8 @@
+ fullstrip.test \
+ iconv.test \
+ oconv.test \
+-korean.test
++korean.test \
++arabic.test
+ 
+ EXTRA_DIST = \
+ test.sh \
+@@ -867,7 +869,10 @@
+ korean.dic \
+ korean.good \
+ korean.wrong \
+-korean.test
++korean.test \
++arabic.aff \
++arabic.dic \
++arabic.bad
+ 
+ all: all-recursive
+ 
+Index: arabic.test
+===================================================================
+RCS file: arabic.test
+diff -N arabic.test
+--- /dev/null	1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
++++ tests/arabic.test	8 Nov 2010 11:41:33 -0000
+@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
++#!/bin/sh
++DIR="`dirname $0`"
++NAME="`basename $0 .test`"
++$DIR/test.sh $NAME -i UTF-8
+Index: arabic.bad
+===================================================================
+RCS file: arabic.bad
+diff -N arabic.bad
+--- /dev/null	1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
++++ tests/arabic.bad	8 Nov 2010 11:41:59 -0000
+@@ -0,0 +1 @@
++ـ
+Index: arabic.dic
+===================================================================
+RCS file: arabic.dic
+diff -N arabic.dic
+--- /dev/null	1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
++++ tests/arabic.dic	8 Nov 2010 11:42:15 -0000
+@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
++1
++ب
+Index: arabic.aff
+===================================================================
+RCS file: arabic.aff
+diff -N arabic.aff
+--- /dev/null	1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
++++ tests/arabic.aff	8 Nov 2010 11:42:27 -0000
+@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
++SET UTF-8
++TRY أ
++IGNORE ٌٍَُِّْ
++
++PFX	Aa	Y	1
++PFX	Aa	0	0/X0	أ[^ي]
diff --git a/hunspell.spec b/hunspell.spec
index 7f0b07f..b5f0927 100644
--- a/hunspell.spec
+++ b/hunspell.spec
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 Name:      hunspell
 Summary:   A spell checker and morphological analyzer library
 Version:   1.2.12
-Release:   2%{?dist}
+Release:   3%{?dist}
 Source:    http://downloads.sourceforge.net/%{name}/hunspell-%{version}.tar.gz
 Group:     System Environment/Libraries
 URL:       http://hunspell.sourceforge.net/
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ BuildRequires: valgrind
 BuildRequires: words
 %endif
 Patch1: backport.warnings.patch
+Patch2: backport.rhbz650503.patch
 
 %description
 Hunspell is a spell checker and morphological analyzer library and program 
@@ -35,6 +36,8 @@ Includes and definitions for developing with hunspell
 %prep
 %setup -q
 %patch1 -p0 -b .backport.warnings
+%patch2 -p0 -b .backport.rhbz650503
+chmod u+x tests/arabic.test
 
 %build
 configureflags="--disable-rpath --disable-static --with-ui --with-readline"
@@ -123,6 +126,9 @@ rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
 %{_mandir}/man3/hunspell.3.gz
 
 %changelog
+* Mon Nov 08 2010 Caolán McNamara <caolanm@redhat.com> - 1.2.12-3
+- Resolves: rhbz#650503 Arabic spellchecking crash
+
 * Fri Nov 05 2010 Caolán McNamara <caolanm@redhat.com> - 1.2.12-2
 - Resolves: rhbz#648740 thousands of trailing empty rules spew