Two men convicted of sexual assault in Ottawa are believed to have fled Canada before their sentencing hearing, police say.

Ousmane Kader Diarrassouba, 24, and Abdilahi Houd, 23, were found guilty on June 28 in a sexual assault case stemming from an incident that happened in October 2017.

Both men were international students and were supposed to surrender their passports at police headquarters on July 4, but failed to report. They then missed their sentencing hearing on Aug. 20.

Ottawa police say they're working with other police agencies to locate the pair, and have released images of the men in an attempt to locate them.

Diarrassouba and Houd are now each facing a charge of failure to appeal in court.