diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Org/Blocks.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Org/Blocks.hs
index 8609f8226..c2ff33b05 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Org/Blocks.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Org/Blocks.hs
@@ -274,11 +274,15 @@ rawBlockContent' blockEnder = try $ do
    rawLine :: Monad m => OrgParser m Text
    rawLine = try $ ("" <$ blankline) <|> anyLine
 
+   -- Remove one comma from lines consisting of any number of commas
+   -- followed by "*" or "#+", like Emacs' org-unescape-code-in-region.
    commaEscaped suff = case T.uncons suff of
      Just (',', cs)
-       | "*"  <- T.take 1 cs -> cs
-       | "#+" <- T.take 2 cs -> cs
-     _                       -> suff
+       | isEscaped cs -> cs
+     _                -> suff
+    where
+     isEscaped cs = let cs' = T.dropWhile (== ',') cs
+                    in "*" `T.isPrefixOf` cs' || "#+" `T.isPrefixOf` cs'
 
 -- | Read but ignore all remaining block headers.
 ignHeaders :: Monad m => OrgParser m ()
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Org.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Org.hs
index 2676fadc8..a26d7be16 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Org.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Org.hs
@@ -213,13 +213,18 @@ blockToOrg (CodeBlock (ident,classes,kvs) str) = do
   let (beg, end) = case lang of
         Nothing -> ("#+begin_example" <> numberlines, "#+end_example")
         Just x  -> ("#+begin_src " <> x <> numberlines <> args, "#+end_src")
-  -- escape special lines
+  -- Escape special lines by prepending a comma. Like Emacs'
+  -- org-escape-code-in-region, escape all lines consisting of
+  -- indentation, then any number of commas, then "*" or "#+"; this
+  -- keeps lines that already start with commas intact when the block
+  -- is unescaped again.
+  let needsEscape t = let t' = T.dropWhile (== ',') t
+                      in T.isPrefixOf "#+" t' || T.isPrefixOf "*" t'
   let escape_line line =
         let (spaces, code) = T.span (\c -> c == ' ' || c == '\t') line
-        in spaces <>
-           (if T.isPrefixOf "#+" code || T.isPrefixOf "*" code
-            then T.cons ',' code
-            else code)
+        in if needsEscape code
+           then spaces <> T.cons ',' code
+           else line
   let escaped = T.unlines . map escape_line . T.lines $ str
   return $ name $$ literal beg $$ literal escaped $$ literal end $$ blankline
 blockToOrg (BlockQuote blocks) = do