diff -r 8fe9bef4cde4 src/org/python/modules/posix/PosixModule.java
--- a/src/org/python/modules/posix/PosixModule.java	Tue Sep 03 14:08:28 2013 -0700
+++ b/src/org/python/modules/posix/PosixModule.java	Thu Sep 05 13:06:01 2013 -0700
@@ -728,13 +728,13 @@
     public static void unlink(PyObject path) {
         String absolutePath = absolutePath(path);
         File file = new File(absolutePath);
+        if (file.isDirectory()) {
+            throw Py.OSError(Errno.EISDIR, path);
+        }
         if (!file.delete()) {
             // Something went wrong, does stat raise an error?
             posix.stat(absolutePath);
-            // It exists, is it a directory, or do we not have permissions?
-            if (file.isDirectory()) {
-                throw Py.OSError(Errno.EISDIR, path);
-            }
+            // It exists, do we not have permissions?
             if (!file.canWrite()) {
                 throw Py.OSError(Errno.EPERM, path);
             }