diff --git a/ckan/lib/helpers.py b/ckan/lib/helpers.py
index ecfa6baccb5..d171707cb69 100644
--- a/ckan/lib/helpers.py
+++ b/ckan/lib/helpers.py
@@ -173,7 +173,8 @@ def redirect_to(*args, **kw):
     _url = ''
     skip_url_parsing = False
     if uargs and len(uargs) is 1 and isinstance(uargs[0], basestring) \
-            and uargs[0].startswith('/') and len(matching) is 0:
+            and (uargs[0].startswith('/') or is_url(uargs[0])) \
+            and len(matching) is 0:
         skip_url_parsing = True
         _url = uargs[0]