Issue with encrypted string created with Crypt_CBC and urls and mod_rewrite

hi there im having issue decoding an encoded string created with Crypt_CBC which i am encoding a uri into the string and sending to a rewrite url. The query string is not returning the encoded part of the url properly for some reason and not decoding properly. The encoded string without mod_rewrite rules is RandomIVQ%83%80%E6%0F%E7%E4%7CdY%E7%BA%9B%14%5B%60%98%A1%1D%04%94L_%16%E4%19%EF%F1%FE%5C%D6%CE%09%C8DI%A7%1F%04%25%A8%7B%FA%19%B51%1D%7C%0D%04%13%E3%21%F1%60f%C6%91%A8b%82%11YK%21l+%C5%D0W%D9%9A%2B%CD3%C3%FA%82LE%D8%1EA%07%25%F5%BB%22%EA%B7%B8%82%F0WZ%40 With rewritten urls its RandomIVQƒ€æçä|dY纛[`˜¡”L_äïñþ\ÖÎ ÈDI§%¨{úµ1| ã!ñ`fƑ¨b‚YK!l+ÅÐWٚ+Í3Ãú‚LEØA%õ»"ê·¸‚ðWZ@ The rewrite rule is RewriteEngine on RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^feeds/(.*) refer.php?$1 [L] Any ideas why its not urlencoding the urlencoded string in the rewrite url ? I may have to use the request_uri instead of sending it as a query string if this is a flaw in mod_rewrite ??