For reference I will answer my own question in case someone encounters the
same problem ;-)
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.infosystems.www.servers.unix/browse_thread/thread/c5acede2063e254/e6bf3aae17f3eb6e?hl=en&lnk=st&q=percent+encoding+apache&rnum=9&pli=1
The problem is that the rewrite engine should not encode semicolons since
they have special meanings in URLs (matrix parameter separators) and the
solution is to disable the URL encoding in the rewrite rule using 'NE' - no
escape.
On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:14 PM, Dário Abdulrehman
<dario.rehman_at_gmail.com>wrote:
> If I make a request with URL encoded semicolons (%3B) the matrix
> parameters are not properly parsed.
> Should semicolons be encoded or not?
>
> The issue arises because my services URLs are going through Apache
> mod_rewrite rules and even if I don't encode them explicitly in my request
> the engine does it.
>
> Thanks.
>