Police have yet to find the site where the Syrian-born mother-of-three was buried despite numerous searches.
A police officer today called the 'honour killing' a 'horrific act of self-pity', adding that Al-Khatib's 'male "pride" clearly couldn't take a strong woman trying to determine her own fate'.
Al-Khatib, 35, was today convicted by a jury of her murder and sentenced to life.
He admitted killing her but claimed he pushed her to the floor and she banged her head after she appeared to him in the form of an evil spirit.
Manchester Crown Court heard the marriage was 'marred by violence' and that Ms Alayed, who previously lived near Middlesbrough, left him after years of serious domestic violence.
She feared for her life and had sought help from the Citizens Advice Bureau, the police and eventually a solicitor - which had angered her husband's family.
Brothers: Muhaned Al-Khatib (left) earlier pleaded guilty perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to three years in prison, while Hussain Al-Khateeb (right) was today convicted of the same charge and was sentenced to four years'
The defendant's brother Muhaned Al-Khatib, 38, said he was not present at the time that any violence was used against Ms Alayed in his flat and did not bear any responsibility for her murder.
He was cleared by the jury of that charge. Both he and Ahmed Al-Khatib, of the Gorton area of the city, had pleaded guilty to intending to pervert the course of justice by transporting and concealing the body of Ms Alayed.
A third brother, Hussain Al-Khatib, 34, also of Gorton, was found guilty by the jury of intending to pervert the course of justice.
Ms Alayed's body was in a suitcase which was later moved to Muhaned Al-Khatib's motorhome, which travelled towards the North East in the early hours of the next day.
Muhaned Al-Khatib was jailed for three years, while Hussain Al-Khatib was imprisoned for four years.
Opening the case, Tony Cross QC, prosecuting, said Ahmed Al-Khatib said he had been 'commanded' to bury his wife by the djinn, a demonic spirit in Islamic folklore, but the Crown rejected his defence of diminished responsibility as lies.
The defendant said he went on to bury her between trees near to the A19 in Thirsk.
He had lured his wife to her death on the pretence that she would drop off their children at the home of his brother to spend the weekend with him. Her brother-in-law left the address with the children some 45 minutes later and shortly after her husband walked out wearing her clothing.
Ms Alayed's body was in a suitcase which was later moved to Muhaned Al-Khatib's motorhome, which travelled towards the North East in the early hours of the next day.
Ploy: CCTV footage of Rania leaving with the children. Al-Khatib had lured his wife to her death on the pretence that she would drop off their children at the home of his brother to spend the weekend with him''
CCTV footage of Rania ariving at Arthur Millwood Court'
CCTV footage of the children leaving Arthur Millwood Court, where the defendant's brother lived'
In this still Muhanned leaves Arthur Millwood Court with a holdall
The jury was told that telephone, Facebook and message services were deployed to pretend to others that Ms Alayed was still alive.
Ahmed Al-Khatib was arrested on July 4 and made no complaint of any mental illness, the court heard.
He told police the relationship had been trouble-free until January last year when his wife rang police about a row when he had taken her phone.
He said he had seen pictures of his wife in underwear. Detectives were told he had not seen her since April and he had tried to contact her 30 times but believed her to be in Turkey or Syria.
Mr Cross told the jury: 'Quite plainly, ladies and gentlemen, the majority of these facts were lies. He knew full well. He had killed her.'
The next day, Muhaned Al-Khatib told police that Ms Alayed was not alive and she was buried at the side of a layby on the A19. He denied helping his brother to bury her or murder her and said he had not seen her body.'
Police outside a house on Knutsford Road in Gorton, Manchester in connection with the murder of Rania Alayed'
He added: 'The court heard he agreed to show police where her grave was but the location could not be found.
Greater Manchester Police said the search for Ms Alayed's body goes on.
So far, GMP have scoured a number of lay-bys on a 15-mile stretch of the A19 with the assistance of North Yorkshire Police and the military.
'His male "pride" clearly couldn't take a strong woman trying to determine her own fate, so he carried out one final act that would ensure she could never defy him again.
'The irony is that this horrific act of self-pity has brought nothing but shame on him and his family'
- Detective Chief Inspector Phil Reade
Following today's sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Phil Reade, of GMP's Major Incident Team, said: 'Rania was a young mother-of-three with everything to live for.
'She was beginning to put an abusive and violent relationship behind her and had genuine cause to be optimistic for the future.
'But at the point, when she thought she might be able to create a better life for her and her children - free of the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of Al-Khatib - her husband snatched it all away in the cruellest and most despicable way possible.
'Invited to a neutral meeting place, he murdered her in cold blood while her children were in the next room. We might never know whether they heard or saw anything of their mother's last movements.
'To deprive his own children of their mother is both sickening and chilling in the extreme. To later attempt to justify the killing by claiming a Jinn was about to attack him is both insulting to Rania's memory and counter to all the evidence of a pre-planned honour-killing.
'And, make no mistake, this was an honour killing. Honour-based violence is committed to protect or defend the "honour" of a family and/or community, usually against young women, where they have acted outside perceived acceptable female behaviour patterns.
'Al-Khatib's murderous actions were motivated by his outrage and jealousy that Rania would attempt to take control of her own life and live a more Westernised life, after suffering years of abuse at his hands.
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Reade said: 'She was beginning to put an abusive and violent relationship behind her and had genuine cause to be optimistic for the future'
'His male "pride" clearly couldn't take a strong woman trying to determine her own fate, so he carried out one final act that would ensure she could never defy him again.
'The irony is that this horrific act of self-pity has brought nothing but shame on him and his family.
'He has also told a catalogue of lies to wriggle out of his date with justice, which has not only created a considerable amount of additional work for detectives, but also prolonged the agony of Rania's family and has prevented us finding her body.
'We continue to employ the most hi-tech methods to search for her and we will not stop until we find her and she can be given the dignified burial she deserves.'
Manchester Crown Court was told Al-Khatib and Syrian-born Rania had married in December 1987 when she was just 15 and had three children together.
Prosecutor Tony Cross QC said it was a 'love marriage' rather than an arranged one but only came about as Rania’s sister was married to Khatib’s brother.
Al-Khatib and Syrian-born Rania had married in December 1987 when she was just 15
They fled Damascas initially for Greece but emigrated to the UK in 2004 and after living in Stockton-on-Tees for five years moved to Manchester where Muhned was already living. In that same year Rania began confiding in friends her husband was beating her.
Mr Cross said a friend witnessed the aftermath of an attack and added: 'She saw Al-Khatib angry like a monster shouting he would kill her. It became clear to her that he and his family were controlling of her.
'It appears he was violent, sexually and physically and would force her to give him money. She told one friend she feared he would kill her. How right she was was.
'He was prone to anger and openly displayed. He was contemptuous of females. He was also jealous.
'She had the courage to free herself from him using a solicitor and began to become a little Westernised. She went to college and had friends, male and female.
'This was all too much. During this period she was making friends outside her family circle. No doubt this was deeply resented by the defendant and in all probability by the rest of his family.'
Rania left the family home in Longsight, Manchester with the children to move to a hostel and later in May 2013 rented a property in Cheetham Hill and filed for divorce.
She had also formed a relationship with a married man she met through an internet site.
Rania was last seen alive on June 7 last year when she met a friend in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens and told of a plan to drop off her three children with her estranged husband via Muhaned’s flat for the weekend.
That evening at around 8pm she was killed at the apartment after Muhaned’s partner was told to stay away due to a 'family meeting.'
Later Rania’s body was driven away in Muhned’s camper van and at 3am the following morning, the Leyland DAF 200 vehicle was spotted parked in a layby on the A19 by an HGV driver.
Three hours later the camper van broke down and an AA man described the smell inside the vehicle as a 'rancid stench'.
Another man said of Al-Khatib, Muhned and a third brother Hussain, 34, who was also in the vehicle: 'All three stunk, smelt dirty and looked like they had just run a marathon.'
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