diff --git a/image_readers/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/imagereaders/ij/ImageJReaderLibrary.java b/image_readers/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/imagereaders/ij/ImageJReaderLibrary.java
index 2396717a960bbab68cde1b4d9d71f8ea032f76ea..12a1912db39f696b9cd5146ef29b9d6057d6f26e 100644
--- a/image_readers/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/imagereaders/ij/ImageJReaderLibrary.java
+++ b/image_readers/source/java/ch/systemsx/cisd/imagereaders/ij/ImageJReaderLibrary.java
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@ public class ImageJReaderLibrary implements IImageReaderLibrary
             {
                 AdapterIInputStreamToInputStream is = new AdapterIInputStreamToInputStream(handle);
                 ImagePlus imagePlus = new Opener().openTiff(is, "");
+                if (imagePlus == null)
+                {
+                    throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot open the image file with ImageJ.");
+                }
                 return createBufferedImageOfSameType(imagePlus);
             }
         };