Leif Silbersky, a high-profile attorney, will represent Julian Assange.

• Australia warned WikiLeaks of 'dirty tricks'
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has hired one of Sweden's top defence lawyers ahead of a looming decision by prosecutors about whether he will face molestation charges, reports said Tuesday.

Leif Silbersky, a high-profile attorney and co-author of a long line of crime novels, has been hired to represent the 39-year-old Australian, the Aftonbladet daily reported on its website.

"I can confirm that I will represent him," Silbersky told the paper.

Swedish prosecutors on Friday night issued an arrest warrant for Assange over an allegation of rape but then abruptly withdrew it on Saturday.

Authorities are still, however, investigating a separate claim of molestation against the former hacker.

Assange has said the claims are part of a smear campaign aimed at discrediting his whistleblowing website, which is locked in a row with the Pentagon over the release of secret US documents about the war in Afghanistan.

The Swedish chief prosecutor in charge of the case, Eva Finne, said on Tuesday that she would not reach a decision before Wednesday on whether to formally press charges against Assange.

Silbersky said Tuesday his client did not know what charges, if any, he would face and had sought representation to help navigate the Swedish legal system.

"There have been a number of legal twists and turns, with rape (allegations) boiling down to something different, and we don't know where this will end," Silbersky told the TT news agency.