diff --git a/src/rewrite_clj/node/keyword.clj b/src/rewrite_clj/node/keyword.clj
index 2f587824..f8fb432f 100644
--- a/src/rewrite_clj/node/keyword.clj
+++ b/src/rewrite_clj/node/keyword.clj
@@ -35,10 +35,7 @@
 
 (defn keyword-node
   "Create node representing a keyword. If `namespaced?` is given as `true`
-   a keyword à la `::x` (i.e. namespaced to the current namespace) is
-   generated."
+   a keyword à la `::x` or `::ns/x` (i.e. namespaced/aliased) is generated."
   [k & [namespaced?]]
   {:pre [(keyword? k)]}
-  (assert (or (not namespaced?) (not (namespace k)))
-          (str "invalid namespaced keyword: :" (pr-str k)))
   (->KeywordNode k namespaced?))
diff --git a/test/rewrite_clj/parser_test.clj b/test/rewrite_clj/parser_test.clj
index 0447d5f1..f254a60b 100644
--- a/test/rewrite_clj/parser_test.clj
+++ b/test/rewrite_clj/parser_test.clj
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
   ":ns/key"                    :ns/key
   "::1.5.1"                    ::1.5.1
   "::key"                      ::key
+  "::xyz/key"                  :xyz/key
   "sym"                        'sym
   "sym#"                       'sym#
   "\"string\""                 "string")