diff --git a/issuetracker/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/issuetracker/jira/JiraProject.java b/issuetracker/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/issuetracker/jira/JiraProject.java
index 991f868ef..bff9e6457 100644
--- a/issuetracker/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/issuetracker/jira/JiraProject.java
+++ b/issuetracker/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/issuetracker/jira/JiraProject.java
@@ -116,8 +116,11 @@ public Optional<Issue> issue(String id) {
         }
         var issueRequest = request.restrict("issue/" + id);
         var issue = issueRequest.get("")
-                           .onError(r -> r.statusCode() == 404 ? JSON.object().put("NOT_FOUND", true) : null)
+                           .onError(r -> r.statusCode() < 500 ? JSON.object().put("NOT_FOUND", true) : null)
                            .execute();
+        if (issue == null) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Server error when trying to fetch issue " + id);
+        }
         if (!issue.contains("NOT_FOUND")) {
             return Optional.of(new JiraIssue(this, issueRequest, issue));
         } else {