diff --git a/lib/filter_scene.py b/lib/filter_scene.py
index 053743b..c5f8280 100644
--- a/lib/filter_scene.py
+++ b/lib/filter_scene.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# -*- coding: UTF-8 -*-
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 # Version 3.1; Erik Husby, Ryan Shellberg; Polar Geospatial Center, University of Minnesota; 2019
 # Translated from MATLAB code written by Ian Howat, Ohio State University, 2018
@@ -1882,7 +1882,10 @@ def readFromXml(xmlFile, xml_paramstrs):
     while line != '' and None in values:
         for ps in xml_paramstrs_left:
             if ps in line:
-                values[xml_paramstrs.index(ps)] = line.replace("<{}>".format(ps), '').replace("</{}>".format(ps), '')
+                if not re.match(r"^[A-Za-z0-9-_\.]+$", ps):
+                    raise InvalidArgumentError(f"Error: Illegal XML tag name: {ps}")
+                regex = "<([^:]*:){0,1}"+ps+">(.*)</([^:]*:){0,1}"+ps+">"
+                values[xml_paramstrs.index(ps)] = re.sub(regex, r"\2", line)
                 xml_paramstrs_left.remove(ps)
                 break
     xmlFile_fp.close()