diff --git a/rocksdb/_rocksdb.pyx b/rocksdb/_rocksdb.pyx
index 4c8b354..08201ba 100644
--- a/rocksdb/_rocksdb.pyx
+++ b/rocksdb/_rocksdb.pyx
@@ -159,7 +159,8 @@ cdef class PyGenericComparator(PyComparator):
 
     def __dealloc__(self):
         if not self.comparator_ptr == NULL:
-            del self.comparator_ptr
+            with nogil:
+                del self.comparator_ptr
 
     cdef object get_ob(self):
         return self.ob
@@ -771,7 +772,8 @@ cdef class _ColumnFamilyHandle:
 
     def __dealloc__(self):
         if not self.handle == NULL:
-            del self.handle
+            with nogil:
+                del self.handle
 
     @staticmethod
     cdef from_handle_ptr(db.ColumnFamilyHandle* handle):
@@ -879,7 +881,8 @@ cdef class ColumnFamilyOptions(object):
 
     def __dealloc__(self):
         if not self.copts == NULL:
-            del self.copts
+            with nogil:
+                del self.copts
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         self.py_comparator = BytewiseComparator()
@@ -1290,8 +1293,9 @@ cdef class Options(ColumnFamilyOptions):
 
     def __dealloc__(self):
         if not self.opts == NULL:
-            self.copts = NULL
-            del self.opts
+            with nogil:
+                del self.copts
+                del self.opts
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         ColumnFamilyOptions.__init__(self)
@@ -1551,7 +1555,8 @@ cdef class WriteBatch(object):
 
     def __dealloc__(self):
         if not self.batch == NULL:
-            del self.batch
+            with nogil:
+                del self.batch
 
     def put(self, key, value):
         cdef db.ColumnFamilyHandle* cf_handle = NULL
@@ -2305,7 +2310,8 @@ cdef class BaseIterator(object):
 
     def __dealloc__(self):
         if not self.ptr == NULL:
-            del self.ptr
+            with nogil:
+                del self.ptr
 
     def __iter__(self):
         return self