Senatorial arrests

Previous	Proclamation of the New Order Mission to Mustafar
Concurrent	Great Jedi Purge
Senatorial arrests
Date	19 BBY 1 day AFE
Place	Imperial City, Coruscant
Outcome	63 senators arrested on charges of conspiracy and treason
Affiliations involved	Galactic Empire Imperial Intelligence Imperial Senate Judicial Forces
Participants	Nee Alavar Tanner Cadaman Ivor Drake Mon Mothma Bail Organa Shea Sadashassa Streamdrinker Fang Zar

"63 Senators Arrested in Collusion with Jedi Insurgency"

―HoloNet News headline

One day after the formation of the Galactic Empire, Imperial Intelligence arrested sixty-three Imperial senators on charges of conspiracy and treason. All those arrested were members of the Delegation of 2,000, a group of senators who made a failed bid to limit the growing executive powers of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine during the Clone Wars. The arrests were reported on by the state-sanctioned HoloNet News, which declared the event a "dramatic victory over the Jedi rebellion."

Prelude

"In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire! For a safe and secure society."

―Emperor Palpatine

As the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems entered its final stages in the year 19 BBY, Republic Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine—secretly the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious—continued to gain emergency powers from the Galactic Senate. In response, former senators of the Loyalist Committee, displeased with the Chancellor's increasing authority, formed the Delegation of 2,000 to counter Palpatine's growing political power. The delegation crafted the Petition of 2,000, a formal protest to Palpatine's political gains and an effort to return emergency powers back to the Senate at the end of the war.

Supreme Chancellor Palpatine transforms the Republic into the first Galactic Empire before the ovational Senate.

Palpatine eventually sent his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, to the planet Mustafar to destroy the Executive Separatist Council and shut down the Separatist Droid Army, effectively ending the Clone Wars. Meanwhile, before a gathering of the Senate, the Chancellor declared the Jedi, the guardians of the Republic, to be traitors and revealed the foiling of a supposed Jedi rebellion. With strong public support, Palpatine took the opportunity to proclaim that the Republic would be transformed into the first Galactic Empire, with himself ruling as Galactic Emperor—though certain senators, such as Bail Organa of Alderaan and Padmé Amidala of Naboo, only looked on with dismay.

The arrests

The crackdown

"Imperial Intelligence scored a dramatic victory against the Jedi rebellion today, arresting sixty-three senators on charges of conspiracy and treason."

―HoloNet News report

One day after the formation of the Empire, Imperial Intelligence, the state's espionage and anti-sedition agency, began a crack down on Palpatine's political opponents on Coruscant, conducting a mass arrest that eventually captured sixty-three senators—all signatories of the Petition of 2,000—on charges of conspiracy and treason. Included in the arrests were a number of senators from prominent Core Worlds, many alien senators from the Outer Rim Territories, and prominent signatories of the petition. Several of those arrested were herded onto a Theta-class shuttle by Imperial clone troopers.

Following the initial day of the arrests, Senator Tanner Cadaman was arrested within several days, while Senator Ivor Drake was arrested shortly after Padmé Amidala's funeral. The arrests continued days after the Emperor's proclamation, and was during this time when Senator Organa and Senator Mon Mothma of Chandrila were arrested by Judicial Forces along with dozens of other senators.

Mothma's arrest

"Senator Mothma? You need to come with us."

―A Judicial Forces officer arresting Senator Mothma

Senator Mothma was arrested days after the end of the Clone Wars en route to a meeting with a freelance reporter when she was intercepted by Judicial Forces halfway to the Imperial Executive Building. A number of officers ordered her to go with them, and she protested as she travelled to the Judicial Forces center. After she arrived, a pair of out-of-uniform officers took her into custody and forcefully placed her in a small closet or decommissioned toilet stall; the force of which knocked her against a wall and led her to almost collapse. Mothma remained alone, soiled, and in pain inside the small metal room for thirty hours until she was released and interrogated.

The interrogator informed Mothma that it was their role in thoroughly investigating anyone who belonged to the Delegation of 2,000 and other anti-government groups, those close to the Jedi, and those who had close connections with Separatists. The interrogator then revealed that despite Mothma's associations to these groups, the Judicial Forces found no evidence that she was a threat and so was presented with the option of either signing a loyalty pledge in return for her immediate release, or remain in Imperial custody until a hearing was granted and a more thorough investigation took place. After Mothma signed the pledge, much to her dissatisfaction, the interrogator threatened her that the administration authorized them to bring her back into question whenever they chose.

Aftermath

Detainment

"All those arrested had also been signatories to the Petition of the 2,000, a formal protest against Palpatine's new system of regional governorship that was signed by two thousand legislators and presented during the last full Senate session. Is your senator a traitor?"

―HoloNet News report

Several arrested senators were incarcerated at Arrth-Eno, where they were eventually executed.

Following the first day of arrests, HoloNet News, the official state-sanctioned news agency of the Empire, reported on the incident, labeling it a "dramatic victory over the Jedi rebellion." Before press time, a partial list of those taken into custody was released, revealing that Senators Shea Sadashassa of Herdessa, Ivor Drake of Kestos Minor, Fang Zar of Sern Prime, Streamdrinker of Tynna, and Tanner Cadaman of Feenix were among those arrested. Also arrested was Nee Alavar, who vanished shortly after her arrest.

After his arrest, security officers locked Organa in a comfortable cell, providing him with access to news feeds, datapads, and obliged to his requests. Organa was asked to pledge his loyalty to the new regime, and to assure the public that the Emperor had legitimacy. Organa had agreed for the sake of himself, his family, and for the sake of the wider galaxy, and professed his loyalty. Senator Streamdrinker was one of the senators not charged. Like Streamdrinker and Organa, other senators were released from detention unscathed, while other members of the Delegation of 2,000 avoided detention altogether. Since his arrest, Organa usually kept within the boundaries of political discourse, avoiding the terms "tyrant" and "massacre" in his speeches, even if implied.

Immediate reactions

"About those vows…you were arrested on charges of disloyalty shortly after Palpatine's ascension to Galactic Emperor. How can the public believe your dedication to the Empire is sincere?"

―A droid reporter, to Mothma

Following his arrest, Senator Organa held a media conference to both reaffirm his loyalty to the burgeoning Empire and to criticize what he described as "overzealousness" of the security forces. Organa's media conference led Mothma to resent him. After Mothma's release, a droid reporter interviewed her from a crowd gathered at a tram station, asking her how the public could believe her sincere dedication to the Empire following her arrest on charges of disloyalty. Mothma parried, before Senator Lud Marroi arrived and managed to dispel the questions, allowing them and Mothma to leave.

The first meeting of the leadership of the Delegation of 2,000 occured after the arrests, in a more discrete location in the Tri-Opt District; Senator Marroi's getaway. There, the leadership of the group met to discuss the sweeping and fast changes the administration was enforcing, and how they must continue to challenge Emperor Palpatine, while others expressed worries over the Empire's use of force to crush opposition. During this meeting, some members briefly spoke about their arrests in relation to their analysis of next steps.

Continued Imperial activity

Shortly after the arrests, Imperial Intelligence made it a priority to monitor the 2,000 senators of the Delegation, including the sixty-three in the priority list provided and their staff, spouses, and associates. Intelligence supervisor Gerrus Bariovon oversaw the efforts of intelligence agent Haki Zeophrine and her forty agents, as they monitored the senators for further acts of sedition with spies and electronic taps.

In response to the Ghorman Massacre in 2 BBY, Senator Dasi Oran of Ghorman was arrested by stormtroopers, while Senator Mothma evaded arrest after she denounced the Emperor directly in response to the massacre and resigned from the Imperial Senate Senators Sadashassa, Drake, and Cadaman were ultimately incarcerated at the Arrth-Eno Prison Complex on Coruscant, and Drake was pressured into identifying her allies, but refused. All were executed there shortly after the Battle of Yavin when a Rebel Alliance mission to assassinate Palpatine and rescue imprisoned senators sympathetic to the Rebellion went awry in 0 ABY.

Legacy

"Bail and I were detained but released after we professed our loyalty. Why do I fight the Empire? One reason is my guilt."

―Mon Mothma, reflecting on the arrests in The Rebel Files

When his daughter Leia became embroiled in the Rebel Alliance, Bail told her about the arrests as a warning about Palpatine. Leia later recounted what her father had told her in her personal writings, Lessons from serving in Palpatine's Senate, during the New Republic Era.

The Rebel Files, a non-electronic central data repository of sensitive rebel information, documented Mon Mothma's recollections of the arrests, as she recounted how she and Bail avoided being arrested after professing their Imperial loyalty. Mothma noted that her guilt over having done so motivated her to continue secretly opposing the Emperor and building up the Rebel Alliance. In 35 ABY, the historian Beaumont Kin wrote and published a book documenting the Empire's rise and fall titled The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire. Within the book's first chapter, titled "Emperor Palpatine," Kin mentioned the senatorial arrests citing Leia's writings.

Behind the scenes

The senatorial arrests were first mentioned in the current Star Wars canon in Star Wars: The Rebel Files, a 2017 reference book written by Daniel Wallace. The event was originally created for the Star Wars Legends article "Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241," written by Wallace and Pablo Hidalgo for the eighty-fourth issue of the Star Wars Insider magazine on September 26, 2005.

Appearances

• Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)

Sources

• Star Wars: The Rebel Files (First mentioned)
• Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide
• Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire

Notes and references

In other languages

• Ελληνικά
• español
• français
• 日本語
• suomi
• Türkçe